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PALMER — The Mat-Su Miners can cross the first item off their list of goals for the 2015 Alaska Baseball League season.
Earlier this week, the red hot Miners used a 7-1 victory over the Alaska Goldpanners in Fairbanks to clinch the ABL Northern League title and a spot in the league’s championship, the ABL Top of the World Series.
“It’s really exciting. The No. 1 goal was to put a check mark in that box,” Mat-Su skipper Ben Taylor said via cellphone from Fairbanks.
Mat-Su, a dominant force in 2015, secured its division with 10 games left in the regular season.
“It’s nice to be know we’re going to be playing for a championship,” Taylor said. “It’s nice to be rewarded for the effort thus far.”
The Miners can now set their sights on another priority, securing home field advantage for the championship series, scheduled for Aug. 3-4.
“That’s what we’re working on right now. Our No. 1 goal is to clinch home field,” Taylor said.
Mat-Su, which capped a three-game series against the Panners Thursday night at Growden Field in Fairbanks, headed into Thursday play with a 25-7 mark in league play. After clinching the pennant in the three-team ABL NL, the Miners earned the chance to play the winner of the three-team ABL American League in the Top of the World Series.
While the Miners ran away with the ABL NL title, there’s been a tight race in the ABL AL. Entering action Thursday night, the Anchorage Bucs (15-13) led the Peninsula Oilers (13-15) by two games. The Bucs and the Oilers met in a doubleheader Thursday night. Results of the Anchorage-Peninsula game and the Miners-Panners contest were not available prior to presstime. See frontiersman.com/sports for more.
Mat-Su, the league runner-up in each of the past two seasons, is in search of its first ABL crown since 2010.
Miners take first two from Panners
The Miners collected a combined 20 hits en route to a pair of lopsided wins during the first two games of a three-game road series against the Alaska Goldpanners in Fairbanks.
Wednesday, Mat-Su used a four-run sixth inning to grab a 7-3 victory over the Fairbanks team. Matt Diorio, Tanner Nishioka, Nyles Nygaard and J.J. Hancock finished with two hits each. Connor Wanhanen drove in two runs, and Diorio and Nishioka each scored twice.
Caleb McCann earned the win in relief, allowing only one hit and no runs in 2 1/3 innings of work. Trent Thompson and Corbin Martin also pitched a scoreless inning of relief each.
Tuesday, James Harrington scattered five hits over seven scoreless innings to lead Mat-Su to a 7-1 win over the Panners. Harrington, who lowered his earned run average to 1.69, fanned six and walked only one hitter.
Diorio and Nygaard drove in two runs each for the Miners.
Mat-Su returns to Palmer today to start its final homestand of the season. The six-game set starts with a game against the Chugiak Chinooks tonight at 6 p.m. at Hermon Brothers Field. The Miners play the Chinooks for the final time this season Saturday at 6 p.m. The Miners host the Anchorage Glacier Pilots Monday and Wednesday at 6 p.m., and the Bucs Tuesday and Thursday at 6 p.m.
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