Miners move back into first

PALMER — Dominick Francia has a modest four runs batted in this season. That’s not too bad considering the Mat-Su centerfielder is primarily the Miners’ leadoff hitter.

But Francia’s batting .360, and where he’s really dangerous is on the base paths. In 15 games, the Louisiana-Lafayette product already has 18 stolen bases.

On Wednesday, Francia didn’t even need his bat to drive in the go-ahead run. Francia used his legs.

In the fourth inning, Francia stole second base, drew a throw from Peninsula catcher Manny Reyes and Miners infielder Ryan Ford scored easily from third to give Mat-Su the 3-2 lead.

The Miners held on to score the 4-2 win at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer and force a tie at the top of the Alaska Baseball League standings.

“Anytime he gets on, he’s not staying where he is for very long,” Mat-Su head coach Brian Yocke said of Francia.

Francia collected a pair of hits and also scored a run to help the Miners improve to 8-3 in ABL play and move into a first-place tie with the 7-2 Oilers.

The contest didn’t mark Mat-Su’s best night at the plate — Francia recorded two of his team’s four hits — but the Miners took advantage of a handful of Oiler miscues to earn the win and avenge Tuesday’s 5-0 loss to the Kenai team.

The Oilers finished with five errors in the loss. Four of those came in Mat-Su’s two-run first inning.

The Miners put their first four hitters of the game on base, and three of those reached on errors.

“Put the ball in play and good things will happen,” Yocke said. “The mindset going in was put the ball in play, not strikeout and see what happens. We did a good job of that in the first couple of innings.”

Francia reached on an error to lead off the game for the Miners. After stealing second, Francia scored when Tim Zier reached on another Oiler error. That gave the Miners the 1-0 lead.

Stephen Branca drew a walk to put another Mat-Su hitter on, still with no outs. Nick Rosso followed by reaching on another error, which allowed Zier to score and give the Miners the 2-0 advantage.

“We keep doing that throughout a game, and I think we’ll starting scoring some more,” Yocke said.

The Oilers were able to tie the game in the top of the fourth. Patrick Wisdom singled to lead off the inning and Troy Channing drew a walk to put two men on. Tanner Rust drove both runners in with a sharp single down the left field line to tie the score at 2.

Mat-Su starter David Gibson threw five innings to earn the win and improve to 2-0 this summer. The lefty allowed three hits and two earned runs, while fanning four. Ben Graff, Ryan Dull and Brandon Hedrick combined for four innings of scoreless relief.

“Everyone covered their shift,” Yocke said of the Mat-Su staff. “Everyone did a good job of handling the innings they were in charge of.”

Oilers starter Justin Haley lasted just two-thirds of an inning. After facing six hitters, walking two, Haley was replaced with Ben Griset, who pitched 3 1/3 and was tagged with the loss.

The Oilers also only had four hits in the game, which lasted just about 2 hours and 30 minutes. Wisdom collected a pair of those hits.

Miners 3, Oilers 1

PALMER — Cam Kneeland had a breakout night at the plate and the Mat-Su Miners broke away from the Peninsula Oilers at the top of the Alaska Baseball League standings.

Kneeland had a season-high three hits and drove in all three runs during Mat-Su’s 3-1 win over the Oilers at Hermon Brothers Field Thursday night.

With the scored tied at 1 in the bottom of the eighth, Kneeland singled down the left field line to drive in a pair of runs and help Mat-Su improve to 9-3 in ABL play.

Dominick Francia led off the inning with a walk, and Tim Zier and Stephen Branca collected consecutive singles to load the bases. With no outs, Kneeland stepped up to the plate and delivered the sharp hit down the line. Francia and Zier both scored on the play.

Kneeland gave the Miners the early 1-0 lead in the first. Much like the eighth, Francia led off the first inning with a walk. After advancing to second on a sacrifice and third on a balk, Francia scored easily on a Kneeland single to left field.

The Oilers were able to tie the score at 1 with a Patrick Wisdom fielder’s choice in the fifth. Mike Miller scored on the play.

Three Mat-Su pitchers combined to throw a four-hitter in the win. Matt Applegate worked the final two innings of the game and earned the win in relief. The Kansas State product who recently returned for his second summer with the Miners, fanned two, walked one and allowed a hit over two innings. He improved to 2-0.

University of Washington right-hander Jeff Gonzales made the start, allowing three hits and one earned run in five innings.

Lefty Mark Anderson pitched a pair of scoreless innings for the Miners.

Mat-Su also used the victory to win the three-game set against the Oilers.

Oilers 5, Miners 0

PALMER — Jordan Mills pitched eight scoreless innings to lead Peninsula to a 5-0 win over the Mat-Su Miners on Tuesday at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.

Mills fanned eight hitters, while allowing only three hits in the win.

Mat-Su’s Steven Bruce, who entered the game with a perfect 0.00 earned run average after his first two starts with the team, was tagged for eight hits and five earned runs.

Dominick Francia, Ryan Ford and Michael Suiter each collected a hit for Mat-Su.

Miners back

on the road

ANCHORAGE — The Mat-Su Miners will hit Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage tonight and Saturday for a pair of games against the Anchorage Glacier Pilots. Each game is slated for a 7 p.m. start.

The Miners return home Sunday to host the Athletes in Action Fire at 2 p.m. Mat-Su and AIA meet in a doubleheader at Hermon Brothers on Monday. The first game is set for 4 p.m.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.