Miners return to old form

PALMER — The Mat-Su Miners look to have some of their old swagger back.

After a disastrous mid-July that included seven losses during an eight-game stretch, the Miners have recorded back-to-back wins to move back within a game of the top two spots of the Alaska Baseball League.

“Everyone’s loose right now, having fun,” Mat-Su infielder Cam Kneeland said after a 5-1 win over the Anchorage Bucs at Hermon Brothers Field on Saturday.

The team’s second win in as many nights pushed Mat-Su back above .500 and moved the Miners (15-14) within a game of the second-place Bucs (16-13).

Mat-Su collected 10 hits in the win over the Bucs, also marking the second straight night with double digit hits. The Miners drew five walks, stole a pair of bases and generally pushed themselves around the diamond just as they did while sitting atop the ABL standings for much of the month of June.

Again, the Miners seem to have some of their old swagger back.

“We’re playing the game the right way. The hitters have a good approach and they’re sticking with it,” Mat-Su head coach Brian Yocke said. “They’re doing a good job. Hopefully we can keep it up.”

With more than 20 hits in two games, Yocke said the Miners can afford to be more aggressive and return to the style of play that lifted them to an ABL-best 9-3 league mark during the month of June.

“We were aggressive early in the season and got a lot of breaks because of it,” Yocke said. “We hit a little slump there hitting-wise, so we had to kind of not take as many risks on the base paths, because if we lost out there, we weren’t going to get many more on. Now that we’re hitting again, we can be a little more aggressive knowing that if things don’t work out that time, it might work out the next time.”

The Miners were aggressive early. With Wesley Jones on second base, Michael Gerlach chopped a ball to the hole between first and second base. Even the hit didn’t venture very far into right field, Jones wheeled around from second base to score.

Jones, who finished 3 for 5 with two RBI and two runs scored during the 10-1 win over the Athletes in Action Fire on Friday, was 1 for 2 with a pair of runs against the Bucs. Stephen Branca, Tim Zier and Dominick Francia each had a pair of hits, and Cam Kneeland blasted his first home run of the year, a solo shot in the sixth inning.

“It was probably my only good swing I had all day,” Kneeland said.

Kneeland, who has hits in four of Mat-Su’s last five games, took the fastball and drove it over the Hermon Brothers left field wall.

“He came around the bases saying it’s about time,” Yocke, who doubles as Mat-Su’s third base coach, said about Kneeland. “He’s a great hitter, hits for power well, but he hasn’t had much luck.”

Zier and Kevin Lum also drove in runs during Mat-Su’s two-run fifth.

Starter Mark Anderson pitched six scoreless innings to earn the win. The Brigham Young lefty allowed four hits and fanned a season-high six hitters.

The Miners continue play tonight against the first-place Peninsula Oilers at 6 p.m. at Hermon Brothers. The Oilers improved to 18-9 with a 6-3 win over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots on Saturday night to stay four games ahead of Mat-Su in the standings.

“We’ve got two games left against the first-place team,” Yocke said of the Miners, who also play the Oilers Tuesday at 6 p.m. “You’re always in good shape if you’re in striking distance. That’s where we are.”

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