Miners first to 15 wins

PALMER — The Mat-Su Miners won their Alaska Baseball League-leading 15th game of the season Wednesday, beating the Peninsula Oilers 5-2 at Hermon Brothers Field.

The win moves the Miners into third place in a close ABL race, just a game behind first-place Alaska Goldpanners. The Miners, 15-11, have won three more games than the Panner, 12-6, but have lost five more.

But Wednesday’s win was the second straight for the Mat-Su-based team, which was carried by the arm of starting pitcher Trevor Bettencourt, who improved to 2-1 on the season.

Wednesday’s win came on the heals of a split Tuesday doubleheader with the Oilers. The Miners lost the first game 6-4, but rallied to win the nightcap 7-1.

On Wednesday, Bettencourt pitched 7 2/3 innings of shutout baseball while dropping his ERA to 2.57 on the summer. He earned his first win since June 25. Bettencourt was pulled after 3 2/3 innings in his previous outing, but was able to bounce back against the Oilers.

“Last start, coach even asked me, ‘how’s your confidence,’ and I said, ‘it’s down in the drain right now,’” Bettencourt said. “I talked to BT [Ben Taylor] and Bakes [Brad Baker] about mechanics, mental stuff and everything and came out and had a great day and felt good.”

The Miners scored the first runs of the game on an RBI double from Brenden Farney and sacrifice fly from Patrick McGrath. Mat-Su gave Bettencourt three more runs in the seventh to make the score 5-0. That included a two-run double from Christin Stewart and an RBI double from Gio Brusa. The Oilers scored two runs in the top of the ninth to breakup the shutout.

Eight of the nine players in the Miners’ batting order recorded a hit. Leadoff hitter Spencer Mahoney went 2-for-5 on the night. Mahoney was moved to the top of the lineup on July 6 and has hit 9-for-23 (.391) in six games in that spot.

“Instead of looking to drive runners in, I’m looking to get on base and score runs,” Mahoney said. “I’m pretty comfortable in the spot I’m in; I did it all through high school.”

Mahoney extended his hitting streak to eight games after his multiple hit game Wednesday night.

On the mound, Bettencourt did not walk a batter for the first time this season. In addition to not giving out any free passes, the San Jose, Calif., native struck out 12 Oilers.

“It feels like I’m in high school again,” Bettencourt said. “I knew I struck out a few guys, but I didn’t know it was double digits, and after when they showed me the line it was kind of eye opening.”

Drew Smith relieved Bettencourt and picked up his fourth save of the year. The Miners has its first off days Thursday and Friday since June 24.

“Eighteen games in 16 days isn’t easy,” Mahoney said. “It takes a toll on the body. We get to take a step back [and] see a little bit of the state.”

The Miners have nine league games remaining after the off days.

“We’ll’ be fighting for a first place finish,” Mahoney said.

Oilers 6, Miners 4

The Miners lost the first of two seven-inning games to the Peninsula Oilers 6-4 on Tuesday night at Hermon Brothers Field in the first game of a doubleheader.

Oilers second baseman Andre Mercurio put his team on the scoreboard first with an RBI single in the second inning. The Miners made a push in the bottom of the third, scoring three runs, including an RBI single from AJ Simcox and a two-run double from Gio Brusa to make it a 3-1 Mat-Su lead.

The Oilers responded in the next inning with five runs in the top of the fourth.

“I don’t remember giving up that many runs in an inning very much this summer,” head coach Ben Taylor said. “The Oilers are a really good team and they did a good job and they played hard.”

Patrick McGrath added a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning, which would be the final run for the Miners as their comeback fell short.

Mercurio finished the game with three RBI for Peninsula. Colby Blueberg picked up the win for the visitors after throwing 3 2/3 innings of shutout ball out of the bullpen.

Miners 7, Oilers 1

The second half of the doubleheader went the Miners way as they spilt on the evening, winning game two 7-1.

“This team tends to respond well after losses,” Taylor said. “I was really proud of the way they kicked their energy into gear.”

The offense erupted in the bottom of the second inning, when Mat-Su sent 11 batters to the plate while scoring six runs. Catcher Nick La Face broke the shutout with a bases-clearing three-run triple. The next three runs came on RBI singles from Ben Wylly, Spencer Mahoney and Gio Brusa.

The Oilers scored their lone run in the fifth inning. Christin Stewart added a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning driving in the final run. On the mound, Cody Ponce made his first start of the season for Mat-Su and earned the win.

“I had great defense behind me [and] the bats were alive, which is always helpful,” Ponce said. “We had an all-around good team effort tonight.”

Ponce threw all seven innings of the game and gave up one run on four hits and struck out four on the way to splitting the doubleheader. .

“That was good after a doubleheader,” pitching coach Brad Baker said. “Our bullpen is in good shape going into tomorrow and Cody had a big deal to do with that.”

Entering this start, Ponce had thrown 7 2/3 innings of relief for the Miners. The right-hander from Upland, Calif., threw 84 pitches on the night with 56 of them strikes.

“When coach came in the bottom of the sixth, I told him I want it, and he goes, ‘do you want it or do you have it?’’” Ponce said. “I go, ‘I have it,’ and that’s when I knew I had to come out and do my best.”

Mario Gonzalez is a media advisor

for the Mat-Su Miners.