Miners bring down Bucs

PALMER — If revenge is a dish best served cold, the Mat-Su Miners couldn’t have found a better night to deal the Anchorage Bucs a key Alaska Baseball League loss.

With the winds howling and temperatures hovering in the low 50s, the Miners posted a 9-5 win over the Bucs Thursday at a chilly Hermon Brothers Field and claimed sole possession of first place in the Alaska Baseball League standings.

Four different Miners drove in a pair of runs to help Mat-Su improve to 23-14 in ABL play, break a first-place tie with Anchorage and move a game ahead of the 22-15 Bucs.

And even though the win may have helped fans erase the memory of a 13-1 loss to the Bucs at Hermon Brothers nearly two weeks ago, Mat-Su center fielder Nick Cox said the previous game has long been forgotten.

“We try to erase it, think about what we can control,” Cox said.

Cox, Ross Blondin, Shane Brown, and Bobby Jacobs each recorded a pair of RBI in the win. Four Miners — Blondin, James Ramsey, Scott Arthur and Jonathon Johnson — collected a pair of hits each, the Miners scored three runs in each of the first two innings and iced the game with three more in the seventh inning of the win.

“We’ve been aggressive at the plate, been getting our pitches and we’ve got a lot of speed on the bases,” Cox said. “That helps. Get a single here, a single there and we can score runs.”

Mat-Su jumped to the early lead in the first when Blondin gave the Miners the 2-0 lead, thanks to his two-run single with the bases loaded.

Arthur singled, Ramsey doubled and Brown was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Blondin’s hit allowed Arthur and Ramsey to score. Brown tagged up and scored from first on a Cox sacrifice.

Brown recorded a two-run single of his own as the Miners piled on the runs in the second inning.

Johnson singled and scored on a Ramsey single to give the Miners the 4-0 lead, and Mat-Su took the six-run advantage with Brown’s two-run single late in the inning.

Bobby Jacobs drove in a pair of runs on a single in the seventh for Mat-Su.

“Everything’s coming together well,” Cox said. “The hitting, the pitching, everybody’s feeling great.”

Tyler Johnson allowed four hits and two earned runs to earn the win on the mound for Mat-Su. The Stony Brook product walked four and fanned two.

“Tyler did a good job,” Mat-Su head coach Russell Raley said. “I think he just ran out of gas a little bit, but the conditions weren’t easy to pitch in.”

Winds increased throughout the game, and Anchorage was able to blow into Mat-Su’s lead with a mini-rally late.

Anchorage trailed 6-0 and 9-2 in the game, but made things interesting with three runs in the top of the eighth.

Jason Martinson singled and scored on a Michael Hur hit in the eighth. Later in the inning, a pair of Bucs managed to score when Brian McConkey reached on a fielder’s choice.

While the win was important and the Miners are alone at the top, Raley said there’s still plenty of baseball to be played during the final stretch of the season.

“If you come back and lose four straight, this doesn’t mean anything,” Raley said. “Too many things can happen with us still having to play the Bucs and the (Anchorage Glacier Pilots), the two teams that are right there with us.”

Mat-Su’s win over the Bucs and the Pilots’ 3-1 loss to the AIA Fire on Thursday night leave the Bucs and the Pilots locked in a second place tie, a game behind the Miners.

Four of Mat-Su’s next five games are against the Bucs or the Pilots.

Mat-Su will play three straight in Anchorage — facing the Pilots tonight at 7 p.m. at Mulcahy Stadium, the Bucs Saturday and the Pilots again on Sunday — before returning to the Valley Monday for one of its final two home games.

The Miners host the Alaska Goldpanners on Monday at 6 p.m. at Hermon Brothers, and play in their home finale Thursday at 6 p.m. against the Pilots.

Mat-Su’s final four games of the season are in Anchorage.

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