Miners beat Pilots, stay close to AIA

July 24, 2007

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

PALMER - Jeff Pritchard said he tends to bury himself in his paper work, scanning through numbers and dissecting statistics, after a loss.

And after a couple of tough defeats during Mat-Su six-game road trip in Fairbanks, the Miners manager found himself elbow deep in sheets of paper, during which he found one thing out.

&#8220When we get the lead-off guy on, we score like 94 percent of the time,” Pritchard said. &#8220A pretty ridiculous number.”

On Monday, Carl Uhl led off the game with a walk and scored to spark Mat-Su's 6-3 win over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots at Hermon Brothers Field.

Following the Uhl run, his 27th of the season, Mat-Su never trailed. It was also the 12th time the Miners scored in the first inning to take the early lead.

&#8220(The players) are smart. They understand the numbers. They understand the numbers don't lie,” Pritchard said.

The win allowed the Miners to stay just 1.5 games behind first-place AIA.

AIA (20-7) also won on Monday, beating Peninsula 8-3 in Fairbanks. Mat-Su improved to 19-9.

Mat-Su starter George Brown allowed only five hits in seven strong innings of work, and reliever Nate Garcia didn't allow a hit in two innings.

Pritchard said before the game, he and the coaching staff preached quality - the need for quality play on defense and quality play at the plate.

&#8220Tonight was a good example,” Pritchard said. &#8220We got some bunts down, stole some bases and took advantage of some mistakes.”

The Miners played small ball, notching four sacrifice bunts. And Mat-Su also had some hard knocks. Ben Price doubled and Joe Ercolano tripled.

Chris McMurray led the Miners with three hits, and drove in three runs.

&#8220He works so hard,” Pritchard said. &#8220It's nice to see all that work pay off.”

McMurray followed Ercolano's triple with a run-scoring single in the third, and drove in Ryan Ortiz with a single in the fourth. In the sixth, McMurray drove in Michael Ewing with his third single of the night.

After a single night at home, the Miners now prepare for another long road trip. Mat-Su hits Anchorage tonight and Wednesday for a pair of games against the Anchorage Bucs.

On Thursday, the Valley squad starts a three-game series in Kenai against the Peninsula Oilers.

Mat-Su has just one home game remaining. The Miners host the Pilots July 31 at 6 p.m.

Mat-Su adds pitcher

The Mat-Su Miners were forced to add a pitcher to the roster last week.

Joey Parigi, an Arizona State sophomore, is the newest addition to the staff.

Parigi will help fill the void of Matt Montgomery and Bryce Morrow, who both saw their Alaska Baseball League seasons end early because of injury.

Pritchard said he sees the departures of Montgomery and Morrow as key losses in the bullpen.

Montgomery and a perfect 0.00 ERA and two saves with the Miners.

Keep walking

The Miners now have three players who have drawn 20 or more walks this season, and a fourth, Carl Uhl, has 19.

Ben Price leads the team with 28, Michael Ewing has 25 and Donald Brown has 23.

Brown has nearly twice as many walks as hits.

&#8220But a walk's just like a single,” Pritchard said.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.