Miners first rally in the valley of the season was not enough to overcome Chinooks

The Mat-Su Miners suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks 12-9 on Sunday night after falling behind 8-0 early.

The Miners slide back to 4-4 in the Alaska Baseball League standings while the Chinooks found their first win of league action.

Nebraska RHP Blake Encarnacion got the start for the Miners and looked good in the first inning, but things quickly changed in the second. Encarnacion would end up surrendering seven runs in the second inning before being pulled less than two innings into his outing to put Mat-Su in a deep hole. Barry College pitcher Jack Ensell did a nice job of coming in and slowing down the Chinooks' bats, giving up just two runs in the next four innings to give the offense a chance, and Mat-Su didn’t let it go to waste.

The Miners showed a serious fight for the second time this season, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third, before Bryant University’s Eliot Medlock made the game 8-5 in the bottom of the fourth with a three-run home run.

Mat-Su wasn’t done after the fourth. The offense came back to the plate and stunned the Eagle-River Chinooks with a five-run fifth inning thanks to a RBI single by Pomona-Pitzer’s Greg Pierantoni and another two RBI on a single by Eliot Medlock, giving him five RBI on the day, taking the lead 9-8.

After the Chinooks plated one in the top of the sixth, the game remained tied at 9-9 until the top of the ninth. Bowling Green’s Kade Arn pitched a scoreless three innings for the Miners before Central Missouri’s Greyson Chappell came in for the ninth.

The Chinnoks would come through against Chapell, scoring the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly into left field by Carson Clark. The Chinooks would score three total runs before shutting down the Miners in the bottom half and securing their first win of the season.

The Miners have now put themselves in a must-win spot tomorrow night against the Anchorage Bucs to avoid falling to four games behind for first place in the ABL standings.

The Miners will be home after Monday night in Anchorage for a four-game homestand.

The Miners stun the Bucs in the headlights on the road

The Miners knocked off the first-place Anchorage Bucs 11-9 in Anchorage on Monday night, moving to 5-4 in the standings and dropping the Bucs to 7-2.

For the second straight game, the Miners were down by seven runs after three innings. However, for the second straight game, the Miners fought with everything they had, and this time it resulted in a massive win.

Wisconsin Oshkosh pitcher Josh Jansen got the start on the mound, and the Bucs quickly got to him, scoring three in the first inning and five in the third inning to put Mat-Su down 8-1 early. The only run they had was due to Miner’s player of the week, Eliot Medlock, hitting another home run in the bottom of the first.

However, the Miners changed everything in the top of the sixth with their most electrifying performance yet. Three straight RBI hits for the Miners, led by a ginel from BYU’s Ridge Erickson, a two-RBI double from Colorado School of Mines’ Evan Bilter, and another single by Pomona-Pitzer’s Greg Pierantoni, made the game 8-6 before a Bucs pitching change was made. However, it didn’t help.

Central Missouri’s Cole Funkhouser flipped the game upside down when he hit a no-doubter grand slam in left field, stunning the Bucs in headlights and taking a 10-8 lead.

The Miners’ bullpen never let it slip away, and the Miners went on to secure an 11-9 win thanks to relief pitching, led by Wasilla native Boman Marks coming out of the bullpen and pitching two and a third, and a brilliant offensive fight.

Could this be the win the Miners needed to get back in rhythm? Miners fans will see if they can make it two in a row vs the Anchorage Glacier Pilots Tuesday night at Hermon Brothers Field, the first of a four-game homestand.