Miners make roster moves

PALMER -The Mat-Su Miners have added a trio of players to the 2006 roster.

Catawba College sophomore Tim Smith and Washington State sophomore Steve Kost has been added to the pitching staff, Mat-Su head coach Matt Dorey said, and the Miners also signed Lower Columbia College catcher Tony Jones.

Smith and Kost added to bolster a staff hit by the departure of College of Charleston junior Josh McLaughlin and the absences of Oregon State hurlers Mark Grbavac and Greg Keim.

McLaughlin, an All-Alaska Baseball League reliever for the Miners last season, was slated to return to the Valley this summer. But earlier this month, McLaughlin was selected by Oakland in the 20th round of the MLB amateur draft.

Last week, Oregon State earned a spot in the NCAA College World Series, delaying the arrival of Grbavac and Keim.

Smith and Kost each saw their first action on Wednesday. The duo combined for eight innings of work, and Smith earned the win.

Smith posted a school record 13 wins for Catawba, one of the top programs at the Division II level. The North Carolina product had a couple of connections to the Miners. Teammate Kevin McMillan is a catcher on the Miners roster, and Catawba is in the same league as Lenoir-Ryne College. Mat-Su pitching coach John Hendricks is the pitching coach at Lenoir-Ryne.

After a busy season on the mound, he pitched a team-high 99 innings for the 10th-ranked team in the nation, Smith said hoped to pitch somewhere during the summer, but needed a break.

He had the chance to rest, and when Hendricks contacted him about playing in the ABL, Smith boarded a plane.

&#8220He was our ace,” McMillan said. &#8220He throws strikes, works quick. Sometimes you have to slow him down.”

Kost posted a 1-1 record and 2.95 earned run average during his sophomore season at Washington State. He his teammates at WSU with fellow Miners Wayne Daman, Paul Gran and Travis Coulter, and former Miner Matt Oye.

After Mat-Su found out it would be without one of its catchers, California's Travis Howell, the Miners added Jones to the roster.

Jones recently completed his sophomore season at Lower Columbia College, a junior college program in Washington.

&#8220Lower Columbia's a really good program,” Mat-Su head coach Matt Dorey said. &#8220They send a lot of guys off to the next level.”

Last season, Jones played with former Miner Ryan Krauser at LCC.

Dorey said Jones will provide the Miners with another left-handed bat in the lineup, and another strong-armed catcher

The Miners (3-1) have been very shorthanded during the first week of the season, but players continue to arrive. Mat-Su general manager Pete Christopher said Stanford catcher Brent Milleville and Stanford outfielder Joey August arrived in Palmer Thursday.

Christopher also said the two players Mat-Su added after an open tryout, David Breck and Lance Wilson, have left the team to pursue other opportunities.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.