Miners, Bucs battle in extra innings

PALMER — Competition in the Alaska Baseball League is not for the faint of heart.

Take the Mat-Su Miners for example.

During the last two weeks, Miners players, coaches and fans have been kept on the edge of their seats. In 13 games since June 23, the Miners have played in eight one-run battles. Three of those games went into extra innings. Three were decided with the final at-bat.

“We get everybody’s best game. Everybody turns up their compete-level against us. It’s a lot of fun,” Mat-Su head coach Ben Taylor said of the overall competition after a 6-5 extra-innings loss to the Anchorage Bucs Friday night at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.

But Taylor said the level of competition he’s seeing this year is what he expects.

“Everybody gets excited to play each other. There’s a lot of good players in the league,” Taylor said. “There’s a lot of parity.”

And that it shows in the standings.

With the loss Friday, the league-leading Miners dropped to 13-10, but still held a 1.5-game lead over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots (13-13) and Bucs (12-12) in the ABL standings. All five teams in the ABL are separating by only 2.5 games after Friday’s results. Taylor attributes the even level of play to the quality of talent the ABL draws from the top college baseball conferences in the country.

“Everybody beats up on everybody, just like these guys are used to in the good conferences they play in,” Taylor said.

With only five teams in the league, Taylor said it doesn’t take long to really get to know the opponents.

“We play each other so many times, everybody knows everything about everybody,” Taylor said.

Friday, Anchorage’s Alex Guenette drew a walk with the bases loaded, to help the Bucs scrape together the go-ahead run as Kody Reynolds crossed the plate.

Mat-Su’s Madison Nickens helped the Miners force extra innings. Nickens entered the game as a pinch-runner at first base in the bottom of the eighth inning. With two outs in the inning, Mat-Su’s Jake Scudder singled into the outfield. Nickens rounded second with an eye on third, and after the ball got away from Anchorage centerfielder Steven Sensley, Nickens was able to race home to tie the game at 5.

“I thought it was unbelievable,” Taylor said of Nickens’ ability to score from first. “It shows the quality of depth we have, and the commitment to win he has. I’m unbelievably proud of what Madison did tonight.”

The Miners used three pinch-runners in the game.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who can run. Good athletes. It’s a luxury to have,” Taylor said.

Mat-Su also used its speed to take a quick lead in the first inning. Mat-Su’s first two hitters of the game, leadoff man Brooks Stotler and A.J. Lee, reached on consecutive bunt singles. Garrison Schwartz followed with a walk to load the bases. Cleanup hitter Michael Donadio followed with a single that drove in two. Schwartz later scored on a Jake Scudder sacrifice to give the Miners the 3-0 lead.

Lee led the Miners with two hits in the game. Nine different players finished with at least a single for the Miners. Angelo Armenta also scored a run for the Miners.

Anchorage took its first lead in the game with three runs in the top of the sixth inning.

Miners closer Jordan Floyd was tagged with his first loss of the season after allowing his first run in a dozen appearances this year. Floyd entered the game with a 0.00 ERA in 12 innings pitched.

Mat-Su will try to bounce back from the loss Saturday in Kenai. The Miners meet the Peninsula Oilers in a doubleheader that starts at 5 p.m. at Coral Seymour Park. The teams also play Sunday at 2 p.m.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.