Miners continue hit parade

PALMER -- Though Mat-Su is a team loaded with Division I prospects, it was a pair of Division III players that came up big for the Miners on Wednesday night.

Division III stars Ryan Beglin and Jase Turner combined for five hits and five RBIs in Mat-Su's 11-3 stomping of the Peninsula Oilers at Hermon Brothers Field.

Beglin, an RBI machine at the University of Redlands, singled, doubled, tripled and drove in three runs in the contest.

The third baseman drove in a team-high 44 runs while hitting .458 at Redlands during the 2003 season. Beglin has 12 RBIs in 15 games for the Miners.

Turner, a Pomona-Pitzer prospect, homered, singled and drove in a pair of runs for the Miners.

In the bottom of the third inning, Turner sent a shot over the deep right center field wall. The 340-foot bomb gave the Miners a 6-1 lead.

In the bottom of the first inning Beglin sparked the Mat-Su scoring fest.

With the bases loaded, Beglin tagged Peninsula starter Garrett Pennington with a shot to the deep left center field gap. The double cleared the bases and gave Mat-Su a 3-1 lead.

The Miners loaded the bases in three different innings and were able to drive in runs each time.

"Capitalizing," Mat-Su manager Kevin Edwards said of his team's performance at the plate. "It was timely hitting.

"The first one was Begs. With two outs it happened to be big."

"I have come up in that same situation before, but this time I was able to put the swing on the ball," Beglin said.

In the bottom of the second innings the Miners loaded the bases and Matthew Inouye forced a walk to drive in Matt Eichel to give Mat-Su a 4-1 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth with the bases stacked, Jeff Butts knocked an infield single to drive in Beglin. Following the Butts hit, Billy Paganetti reached on an error to score Eichel.

Up for the second time in the contest with the bases jammed, Inouye singled to right to score a pair of runs.

Designated hitter Billy Munich followed with an RBI single to complete the five-run Mat-Su fifth.

During the bottom of the fifth, Mat-Su not only got timely hitting, but they were helped out by a pair of defensive brainfarts by Oiler reliever Tim Gorski.

Gorski's throwing error allowed Paganetti to reach safely and the University of Illinois right-hander failed to even attempt the throw on Butts' chopper to the mound.

"We'll take that," Edwards said. "Those things happen. We'll take'm if we can get'm."

Kyle Knoblauch pitched six solid innings for Mat-Su. The 6-foot, 8-inch hurler scattered five hits.

Knoblauch fanned five batters and only walked one.

Pennington was charged with the loss after allowing six hits and six earned runs in only three innings of work.

With the win the Miners earned the series sweep over the Oilers. In the two-game set Mat-Su scored 21 runs and notched 22 hits.