Miners battle Bucs

PALMER — After three straight losses to Mat-Su at home, the Anchorage Bucs needed a walk-off to get past the Miners.

Logan Stoelke smacked a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift Anchorage to a 6-5 win over the Miners Sunday afternoon in Anchorage.

“I thought the way we played all night was fantastic,” Mat-Su head coach Ben Taylor said in a press release issued by the team. “I love the way we competed on the mound. We played good defense and we kept pushing all night offensively.”

Anchorage did the bulk of its damage against Miners pitching during a five-run fifth. Anchorage collected three of its four hits in the game during that inning. Anchorage’s only other hit in the game was Stoelke’s solo shot of reliever Gage O’Brien in the ninth.

Prior to the fifth, Mat-Su starter Jacob Hughey was flawless. Hughey retired the first 12 Anchorage hitters of the game, and didn’t allow a base runner until Steven Sensley drew a lead-off walk in the fifth.

Hughey fanned 11 batters over 6 1/3 innings. Each of the five runs and three hits the Long Beach State lefty allowed came in the fifth inning.

Mat-Su used a run in the second inning to take an early 1-0 lead, and tied the game after scoring two runs in both the sixth and eighth innings. Garrison Schwartz and Andy Cosgrove finished with two hits each in the loss. Cosgrove also scored a run, and was one of five different Miners to drive in a run. AJ Lee led the Miners with two runs scored. Brooks Stotler and Michael Donadio also scored runs for the Miners.

The loss snapped Mat-Su’s four-game winning streaks. The last three wins came in Anchorage against the Bucs. Saturday, the Miners edged Anchorage 2-1 for the second straight night. Four different Miners combined to allow only four hits and one unearned run Saturday. Starter Justin Vernia allowed two hits and fanned six over 5 2/3 innings en route to the win on the mound. Jordan Floyd pitched the ninth to recorded his league-leading sixth save.

Mat-Su (11-7) entered play Monday night with a 2.5-game lead over the Bucs (10-11) at the top of the ABL standings. The Miners hosted the Peninsula Oilers Monday night. Results were unavailable prior to press time.

See frontiersman.com/sports for more.

Mat-Su returns to Anchorage Wednesday for a doubleheader against the Glacier Pilots.