Mat-Su destroys Anchorage to clinch regular season title

The Mat-Su Miners defeated the Anchorage Bucs 13-3 in a statement win at Hermon Brothers Field Tuesday night. The Miners clinched their third regular-season title in five years, and the fourth time under skipper Ty Lebrun. The Miners haven't lost a game since June 25 and have won six straight against their rivals in gold and black.

Mat-Su also cemented home field advantage in the Alaska Baseball League Top of the World Series championship set, which starts Monday, July 21 at 6 p.m. at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer. It's a best-of-3 series, with Game 2 slated for Tuesday. A third game, if needed, would be on Wednesday.

During the win over Anchorage, the Bucs struck first off of Miner's starter Gavin Balchowicz when Sean Togher poked a single into right field to make the game 1-0 in the top of the fourth. Karson Grout quickly tied it in the bottom half with a RBI single of his own, and the game stayed 1-1 until the seventh inning. Bucs outfielder Ky Mcgary hit his third home run of the year into left-center field to give the advantage back to Anchorage.

After Anchorage scored two runs in the top of the seventh, the Miners' bats stunned the Bucs again in the bottom half. Bucs relief pitcher Grady Faris was pulled after walking Carter Geffre, but not before poking the bear and having a few choice words for Geffre after an 11-pitch at-bat. That one poke is all the Miners' offense needed.

"When you poke the bear, sometimes the bear shows his face, and the bear showed his face tonight," Miners head coach Ty Lebrun said in his postgame report.

Ridge Erickson would step in on a one-and-one count and hit a shot into left field that outfielder Ky McGary and Joey Nerat could only watch as it turned the game upside down and put the Miners up 4-3, and shut down the chipping from the Bucs for the rest of the game.

"I heard something said to Geffre, and we all have each other's backs, and I just knew I had Geffre's back there, and I got to come through for this team," Ridge Erickson said in the postgame.

After getting a shutdown inning in the eighth from reliever Greyson Chappell, the Miners offense made a statement to the rest of the ABL, putting up nine runs to end the game by mercy-rule in the eighth inning off a RBI single from Eliot Medlock. It was the Miners' fourth run rule of the 2025 summer, but their first against the Bucs.

"I've never seen a team like this. The way these guys bonded and became a family is special. They play their butts off for each other and never give up under any circumstances," Lebrun said about the record-breaking Miners team.