Miners get past Chinooks in 10 innings

CHUGIAK — Elijah MacNamee took one for the team. Literally. And Blake Benefield provided some insurance.

MacNamee took a pitch off his back with the bases loaded to push across the go-ahead run and Benefield followed with a two-run single to help lead the Mat-Su Miners to a 4-1 win over the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks in 10 innings at Lee Jordan Field in Chugiak.

The Miners scored four unanswered runs and tallied three of their eight hits in the 10th en route to improving to an Alaska Baseball League-best 10-4.

“I’m really proud. This is the most proud I’ve been of this team all summer,” Miners head coach Ben Taylor said after the win.

With the bases loaded in the top of the 10th, and the score knotted at 1, MacNamee was hit by a Scott Smith pitch on the upper back. As MacNamee, a Mississippi State product, took his free base, Austin Bull scored to give the Miners the 2-1 lead.

“Nobody ever likes to wear one up in the zone like that,” Taylor said. “He hung in there. Sometimes that’s how you gotta push the go-ahead run across.”

Benefield praised MacNamee for standing strong in the box.

“That’s huge. That’s the winning run right there,” Benefield said. “There are many ways to score.”

Benefield followed, and dumped a ball into center field. Andy Thomas and Austin Dennis both scored to push Mat-Su’s lead to three runs.

“It felt good. Helps the pitchers out,” Benefield said. “The last two nights we haven’t really swung the bat for them. It adds two RBI in case something bad happens in the last inning.”

It was Benefield’s first hit of the night.

“That’s why Benefield is as dangerous as he is,” Taylor said. “Ten innings, however many at-bats, he didn’t have a lot of success, but he didn’t can his day. That guy competes from pitch one all the way through. That’s why he’s as good of a player as he is.”

Benefield, a Middle Tennessee product, also increased his ABL RBI lead to 18.

“He’s an RBI guy. The money lies in RBIs,” Taylor said. “I think he’s got a great future and a long career ahead of him.”

Oscar Marchena led off the 10th with a single to set up the game-winning run. Bull came in as a pinch-runner for Marchena, who was seeing his first action since June 13. Taylor said Marchena returned home to Florida to attend his brother’s wedding, but the Miners are glad to have the UMass-Lowell infielder back with the squad.

“Oscar did a great job for us,” Taylor said.

At shortstop, Marchena was part of a Mat-Su defense that made several big plays to hold the Chinooks to just one run. Taylor said Mat-Su’s pitching and defense was stellar as they waited for things to come together at the plate.

“That’s been kind of the constant for us,” Taylor said. “The hitting comes and goes. One thing that’s kept us in games, we throw a ton of strikes and we catch ground balls.”

Mat-Su starter Spencer Henson allowed five hits and one earned run over six strong innings. He also fanned three.

“He was fantastic,” Taylor said of Henson, who now boasts a 0.60 earned run average.

Relievers Zach Hardy, Thaddeus Ward and Josh Green allowed combined for seven strikeouts and just one hit in four innings of work. Ward pitched two innings and earned the win in relief. Green struck out the save in the bottom of the 10th to get the save.

Taylor also praised Chugiak’s starter, Noah Jones, who scattered four hits and one earned run over seven innings. Jones fanned five and walked one.

“He kept us off balance,” Taylor said. “He stayed on the corners. We had some good contact, but not great contact.”

Jeremy Johnson gave Chugiak a lead in the fifth with an RBI single, but Mat-Su was able to tie it in the seventh. Brandon Chinea singled to right field and scored on a double to deep left field by Austin Dennis.

The league-leading Miners head to Anchorage Saturday for a doubleheader against the Bucs. The first game is slated for 5 p.m. The Miners return home to face Chugiak Sunday at 4 p.m. at Hermon Brothers.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.