Miners score another walk-off win

PALMER — The resilient Mat-Su Miners struck once again during a wild win.

Mat-Su posted its third walk-off win of the season with a 4-3 victory over the Chugiak Chinooks Monday night at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.

Rickey Martinez scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 12th to push Mat-Su to the win. Martinez reached on a one-out single and advanced on two straight wild pitches. The Miners improved to 14-8 with the win.

Blake Peyton, one of five Mat-Su pitchers used in the game, earned the win in relief. The Arizona product fanned three over three innings, and allowed only won hit.

The Miners struck early, sparked by Erik Webb’s leadoff double in the first. Webb scored Mat-Su’s first run, and Kody Huff added a run-scoring single. Martinez led Mat-Su with a pair of hits. Coby Boulware scored twice for the Miners.

Over the weekend, the Miners entered a two-game homestand against Anchorage trailing the Bucs by 3 ½ games in the standings. But after back-to-back wins, the Miners took a chunk out of Anchorage’s advantage.

The Miners beat Anchorage for a second straight night with a 7-3 win over the Bucs at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.

“We talk about it as a staff, but at the same time you’ve got to go out and play,” Mat-Su pitching coach Jeff Urlaub said of the standings after the win Saturday. “Obviously we know they are in first place and they’re playing well, so for us to get in the hunt, we’ve got to beat them. We took care of business twice in a row.”

Brandon Birdsell improved to 2-0 on the mound and helped push Mat-Su to 13-8 in the league standings. Anchorage (15-7) owned a 1 ½ game lead following its loss. The Texas A&M product allowed only one hit over five innings of work, and struck out five.

“Great,” Urlaub said of the outing. “He battled. He threw a lot more pitches than we thought he needed to, but he did his job and kept us in the ball game.”

Birdsell did walk five, but was able to keep Anchorage scoreless through his five innings of work.

“That’s the thing. Control might not always be there, but if we can execute big pitches at the right times to get us out of jams, that’s what helps,” Urlaub said.

Birdsell is now 2-0 with a 2.93 earned run average, and has fanned 20 in 15.1 innings pitched.

“He has really good stuff,” Urlaub said. “It’s a big league arm, definitely a pro body.”

Urlaub said Birdsell hits the 93 to 94 mph range.

The Miners were also able to build an early lead at the plate, scoring twice in three of the first four innings.

“Timely hitting the last two nights, scoring first on them. Jumping out to early leads helps our pitcher settle,” Urlaub said. “The offense has been great. Guys are grinding, finding ways to get on base, score runs.”

Justin Kirby led Mat-Su with two RBI and two runs scored. Aaron Walters added two hits, an RBI and a run scored. Erik Webb also scored twice.

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