Miners rally to top Pilots

ANCHORAGE — Mat-Su is only exhibition games into the 2011 season, but the Miners are already showing their ability to rally.

Mat-Su scored three times in the seventh and came from behind to grab a 5-3 victory over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage Saturday night.

“You can tell the way the guys are talking and bouncing around, they’re having a good time,” Mat-Su head coach Brian Yocke said. “Competing and winning means a lot to them.”

The win marked Mat-Su’s second come-from-behind victory of the young season. The Miners used a similar seventh-inning rally to win on opening day. Yocke said it’s been nice to see his team tested in a variety of ways during the exhibition slate.

“We’ve had to face a lot of different stuff,” Yocke said. “We’ve gotten ahead early, we’ve come back and won. It’s nice to feel what it’s like to be up and fell what it’s like to be down and have to press to get more runs.”

Jaycob Brugman used a two-run triple in the seventh to help the Miners improve to 2-1-1 in exhibition action. Brugman’s shot into the gap allowed Tim Zier and Dominick Francia to score and gave the Miners the 4-3 lead.

“That was a real big triple. With two outs there, he came up big,” Yocke said.

Brugman clubbed Glacier Pilot pitching throughout the win. The Brigham Young freshman finished 4 for 5 at the plate. He doubled, tripled, drove in two runs and scored another.

“He’s a good player,” Yocke said of Brugman. “He puts the ball in play. He hits a lot of balls hard in the gaps, and with his speed they’re extra-base hits.”

Zier finished with a pair of singles for the Miners.

Mat-Su took a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Brugman led off the inning with an infield single and moved into scoring position with a pair of Anchorage mistakes. He advanced to second on an error and third on a wild pitch. Brugman scored on Stephen Branca’s infield single.

Cam Kneeland, who reached on a fielder’s choice, scored on an Adam Martin sacrifice fly to right field to give the Miners the two-run lead.

After Anchorage took the lead with a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth, Brugman went to work in the seventh.

Kevin Lum doubled early in the inning and scored on an Anchorage wild pitch to tie the score at 3.

Francia reached on an error and Zier walked to put two men on, and Brugman cleared the bases with his triple.

The Miners added an insurance run when Martin scored on a wild pitch in the eighth.

Brugman’s BYU teammate, lefthander Mark Anderson, earned the win on the mound in relief. Anderson allowed two hits and an earned run in two innings of work. He also fanned a batter.

Steven Bruce earned the two-inning save for Mat-Su, striking out two.

Mat-Su used four pitchers in the contest, sticking with their game plan through the exhibition schedule.

The Miners also ensured their general manager, Pete Christopher, won’t be putting on a pig suit any time soon. The four exhibition games with the Pilots also marked the second annual Swine Cup, a special series that makes light a wild rumor that led to the cancellation of a game between the two teams in 2009.

During the 2009 season, a rumor swirled that a pair of Pilots players were diagnosed with swine flu. When presented with that news, then Mat-Su field manager Russell Raley opted not to bring the Miners into Anchorage for a game.

The rumor was in fact false, and rather than dwell on the forfeited game the Miners and Pilots opted to create a new tradition that also pokes a little fun at the confusion.

Last year, the stakes actually involved a live pig, but that idea was quickly scrapped. This year, Anchorage general manager Jon Dyson threw out the idea of the G.M. of the losing team wearing a pig suit during a future Glacier Pilots-Miners game.

Now, thanks to Mat-Su’s 2-1-1 mark against the Pilots during the Swine Series, it’s Dyson who’ll don that pig costume.

And if that’s not enough, he has to grill hot dogs while wearing the outfit.

The Miners and Pilots haven’t set the date for Dyson’s day in the suit, but the Miners hope to see Dyson grilling those franks at Hermon Brothers Field.

Teams play to tie

The Miners and Pilots played to a 4-4 tie in seven innings at Mulcahy Stadium on Friday. Anchorage scored all four of its runs in the sixth to force the tie.

The Miners took an early 1-0 lead in the game. Cam Kneeland led off the second with a walk and scored on a Kevin Lum sacrifice fly.

Mat-Su tacked on three runs in the third. Jaycob Brugman doubled to drive in Dominick Francia. A Stephen Branca double moved Brugman and TJ Shantz across home plate.

Francia was 2 for 3 with a run in the tie. Branca was 2 for 3 with two driven in.

Mat-Su caps exhibition play today, hosting Lake Erie at 4 p.m. at Hermon Brothers Field.

Mat-Su head coach Brian Yocke said officials from both sides decided before the contest to play a shortened game. Both clubs are still not at full strength and are waiting for more players to arrive in Alaska.