Mat-Su rallies in the 9th to pull out a gutsy, undermanned road victory

CHUGIAK - Miners Head Coach Ty LeBrun exhausted every batting option on Thursday night.

Mat-Su began the game without its top four batters by batting average in the starting lineup: Catcher Steven Lancia and outfielder Alex Vergara were assigned off days. Meanwhile, shortstop Emilio Barreras and outfielder Maddox Haley were nursing injuries.

Consequently, Landon Rogers, typically an every other game or every third game designated hitter, began the contest in the cleanup spot playing left field. Braydon Rogers, a utility player, started at catcher for just the second time this season and the first time since June 8th. Mario Bejarano, normally a pitcher, batted 7th in the order. The lefty hadn’t had a plate appearance since the first week of the season.

Scoring started in the 4th inning. Right fielder Kaden Carpenter led things off with a walk, furthering his lead in that category in the ABL. He stole second base while Brayond Rogers was at the dish. Rogers hit a single down the third base line that actually hit the umpire behind the bag, therefore limiting it to just a single and keeping Carpenter at third base. Bejarano grounded to second but it was deep enough to score Carpenter, his 20th run of the season, a mark that only two guys in the league had hit previously.

Then shortstop Alex Thurston blooped an RBI single into right fielder. Two batters, well, a pinch hitter situation occurred. Instead of second baseman and leadoff man Nolan Tucker, Lancia came to bat.

Head Coach Ty LeBrun said after the game that Tucker aggravated something in his knee.

Lancia, who was hobbling around at different points in the game due to lingering bumps and bruises, laced a single to the opposite field for an RBI. That made it 3-0 Miners.

Mat-Su starter Candon Dahle went 4.1 innings, allowing two hits and two earned on three strikeouts and five walks. In a testament to how solid he’s been all season, that was actually his shortest outing of the summer.

Dahle gave way to Vinny Bianchi, who made his final appearance of the season. The whole team knew ahead of time that it was his final outing. The business analytics major is set to start his graduate program at Notre Dame very soon. Although he did allow a pair of earned runs, Bianchi

did strike out three batters in his 1.2 innings, including his final batter, cleanup hitter Blake Wilhoite to end the 6th frame.

LeBrun gave the postgame pick-axe to Vinny in the Mat-Su clubhouse after the team arrived back in Palmer. Bianchi, a man of few but powerful words, thanked the team for making it his favorite summer of baseball yet. Vinny’s pitching and overall presence will certainly be missed.

Chugiak led 4-3 after the 8th inning and turned things over to their closer (and third baseman) Ryan Mathiesen. The green and gold said “screw your 2.07 ERA” and got to work off the high-velocity righty.

Third baseman Kaleb Hannahs smacked a double down the left-field line to lead off the inning. Then first baseman Cooper Vest slapped an opposite-field single that tied it up at 4-4.

LeBrun subbed out Landon Rogers for Vergara. The Lipscomb product earned a walk. With runners at first and second, Carpenter shot a ground ball up the middle. Vest scored from second. Carpenter made an aggressive turn around first and actually got tagged out trying to get back to the bag. Amidst that commotion, Vergara, who began the at-bat at first base, sent it for home and scored without the Chinooks even recognizing.

Ethan Lyke shoved on the hill again in relief. The Murray State lefty earned the win after going three strong innings, the 7th, 8th, and 9th.

The win boosts the Miners to 16-11. Mat-Su is 7-2 since the start of Independence Day.