Miners beat Bucs to kick off ABL 2025

The Mat-Su Miners started their season off strong with a 5-3 win over the rival Anchorage Bucs on Monday night.

The 2024 season ended in a Bucs championship win after a rainy forecast drowned the Miners' odds of winning their first championship since 2018.

Now, the new Miners are out to avenge that 2024 team and have started strong.

“It was essential to start the season off with a win. It not only gives us confidence but also shows us how good this team can be all season,” said redshirt freshman Karson Grout, who went 3-5 in his first game in yellow and green.

The Miners took an early lead in the top of the second when Bryant University sophomore Eliot Medlock took advantage of a bases loaded situation and hit a two-RBI single to score St. Mary’s Joe McGee and Colorado School of Mines Evan Bilter to make the game 2-0. An error by the Bucs on the same play would tack on another run, making it 3-0 before the Miners scored again in the top of the third on a sacrifice fly by Pomona-Pitzer junior Greg Pierantoni.

The Miners would never relinquish the 4-0 lead built in the first three innings. Starting pitcher Josh Jansen, a senior at Wisconsin Oshkosh, threw nearly four scoreless innings, but gave up an earned run in the 4th before being relieved by Barry (FL) pitcher Jack Ensell.

Ensell would shut down the next three innings, giving up just one hit and three walks.

The Bucs would make it exciting as the game got into the later innings when they got a run in each of the seventh and eighth innings off of Miner’s relief pitcher Cole Marthiljohni, a senior from Sam Houston.

Right Greyson Chappell would relieve Marthiljohni in the 8th inning and attempt a 5-out save. After giving up a couple of free bags in the 9th, Chappell refocused and got a game-ending double play groundout to secure the Miners’ opening game win.

“I was mad at myself [for giving up a couple of free bags], but I couldn’t let it affect how I approached the next hitter. So I flushed it and got to the next one,” said Paris JC graduate and Central Missouri commit Greyson Chappell.

Miners sweep Bucs in two-game series

The Mat-Su Miners kept their season perfect through their opening series vs the Anchorage Bucs with a 6-3 win on Tuesday night.

The Miners didn’t get off to a hot start like they did in their opening game, but found their spark late in the game.

The Bucs took an early 2-0 lead after Miners starter Michael Cunneely lost his control in the second inning. Cunneely would bounce back the following inning and finished with six strikeouts in three innings.

The Miner’s offense finally got going in the sixth when they exploded for six runs. BYU sophomore Ridge Erickson stated things off with a double, and a hit parade led to a 6-2 lead.

The Bucs would add one more run in the eighth inning, but the Miners would hold on to move to 2-0 on the season.

The Miners out-hit the Bucs 13-4 in a game where the Bucs didn’t have a hit from the third inning all the way through the seventh.

Mat-Su will play at Hermon Brothers field again on Thursday, June 5 against the Anchorage Glacier Pilots before traveling to the Chinooks on June 6.