Miners clinch home-field advantage; Playoffs start Thursday at 6 p.m. at Hermon Brothers

PALMER — In late July, the Mat-Su Miners earned the first of the Alaska Baseball League’s four postseason berths. Now, the road to the ABL title could go through Mat-Su’s home park, Hermon Brothers Field.

Mat-Su’s 8-0 victory over Chugiak Tuesday night at Lee Jordan Field combined with a Peninsula Oilers loss to the Anchorage Bucs earlier in the day clinched home-field advantage throughout the 2016 postseason.

“That was a goal we set for ourselves at the beginning of the season, and I’m proud of our guys for accomplishing that goal,” Mat-Su head coach Ben Taylor said in a press release issued by the team.

With the Anchorage loss to the Oilers, the Miners also now know which squad they’ll meet in the first round. In a rematch of the 2015 Top of the World Series championship set, top-seed Mat-Su hosts the fourth-seeded Bucs Thursday and Friday at Hermon Brothers Field. The best-of-3 series starts Thursday at 6 p.m. The series continues Friday at 2 p.m., with a third game, if necessary, slated to start 45 minutes following the conclusion of Game 2. All playoff games are nine innings.

“Staying at home and playing in front of our fans is going to give us a huge advantage,” Mat-Su infielder Levi Jordan said in the release. “We are really excited now, and it gives us that extra motivation to play hard. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The Peninsula Oilers and the Anchorage Glacier Pilots will meet in the other first-round series. The site will be determined by Wednesday’s results.

Mat-Su hosts the Oilers Wednesday at 6 p.m., on the final day of the regular season.

Tuesday, starter Tyler Wyatt and three relievers combined to throw a shutout and the top four hitters in the Mat-Su batting order drove in runs to help the Miners score the 8-0 win over the Chinooks. Wyatt scattered four hits over six innings to improve to 4-1 this season. Leadoff hitter Jacob Hughey finished 2 for 3 with two RBI and three runs scored. Jordan added three hits and two RBI. Garrison Schwartz and Michael Donadio also drove in runs.