Miners rally falls short

PALMER — The month of July has not exactly been kind to the Mat-Su Miners.

There have been losing streaks and roster changes. But throughout the adversity, Mat-Su head coach Brian Yocke has been pleased with his team’s effort. On Sunday, the Miners found themselves trailing by six runs before the end of the fourth inning. But once again, Yocke’s squad battled.

The Alaska Baseball League leading Peninsula Oilers held an early 7-1 lead, but needed Reese McGraw’s five-out save to hold on to a 7-5 win over the Miners at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.

The Miners scored four runs in the seventh, and had either the game-tying or game-winning run at the plate in each of the final three innings. Even though the Miners took the loss, Yocke said he was happy to see his team erase the lopsided deficit and put the Miners in position to fight for the win.

“That’s huge for this team,” Yocke said. “Seven games left, it’d be easy for the guys to pack it in for the summer. You can tell these guys haven’t yet. That’s a special feeling for the coach.”

Six of the Miners’ seven hits came during the final four innings of the game, but the bulk of Mat-Su’s offense came in the seventh.

Michael Gerlach sparked the Miners with a double down the left field line to lead off the seventh inning and scored on Tim Zier’s single down the right field line to cut the Oilers’ lead to 7-2. Michael Suiter followed with a single and scored on Ryan Ford’s double to centerfield.

Trailing 7-3, Mat-Su loaded the bases with a Stephen Branca walk. It was the first of three straight walks for the Miners. Wesley Jones walked with the bases loaded to score Suiter, and pull the Miners within three runs. Adam Martin took his free pass and pushed Ford across the plate, and cut the Oilers’ lead to 7-5.

“The fact the players stuck with it and continued to battle is a testament to them,” Yocke said.

Oilers starter Ben Griest allowed one hit and one earned run over five innings to earn the win on the mound for the Oilers. While, Griest had success against Mat-Su, the Miners were able to attack the Peninsula bullpen.

Tyler Blum allowed six hits and four earned runs in just 1 1/3 innings. James Mannara and Brandon Kizer combined for five walks in one inning.

“It was good for us to make them have to work,” Yocke said.

McGraw didn’t allow a hit and fanned one over 1 2/3 innings to earn his fourth save of the summer.

Kizer and McGraw were able to force, arguably, the two biggest outs of the game. Kizer came in relief of Mannara in the seventh to record an inning-ending strikeout. In the eighth, Mat-Su drew three straight walks, but McGraw stepped onto the mound and recorded another inning-ending strikeout for the Oilers.

Peninsula opened the game with three straight singles, and took advantage of a wild pitch and passed ball to score early runs in the win.

“It was a tough position to be put in that early in the game,” Yocke said. “Give up a couple runs, and it’s even more demoralizing when you give up a couple more after that first inning.”

The Oilers tagged Mat-Su starter Brandon Hedrick for six hits and seven runs, six earned, in just three innings.

Mike Miller, Chris Mallory and Patrick Wisdom led off the game with consecutive singles.

Miller scored on a wild pitch with the bases loaded to give the Oilers the 1-0. Tanner Rust drew a one-out walk to load the bases again, and Mallory scored on a passed ball to push the Kenai-based team’s lead to a pair of runs in the first.

Late in the inning, Landon Anderson used a two-run single to give Peninsula the 4-0 lead.

After taking the 5-0 lead in the second, with a Troy Channing RBI single, the Oilers added a pair of runs in the fourth.

Miller scored on another wild pitch in the fourth and after Hedrick was chased off the mound, Channing drove in his second run of the win with a sacrifice fly off reliever Ben Graff.

Mat-Su bounces back against Anchorage Bucs

PALMER — The Mat-Su Miners rebounded from a loss on Sunday and grabbed an 8-4 win over the Anchorage Bucs at Hermon Brothers Field on Monday.

Adam Martin and Kevin Lum each drove in a pair of runs to help the Miners bounce back above .500, and improve to 16-15 in Alaska Baseball League play. The win also pulls the third-place Miners within a half-game of the second-place Bucs in the standings.

Jeff Gonzales pitched seven solid innings to earn the win.

The Miners homestand continues tonight as Mat-Su hosts the league-leading Peninsula Oilers at 6 p.m. at HBF.