Miners shut out the Glacier Pilots for the third time this summer

The Mat-Su Miners defeated the Anchorage Glacier Pilots 5-0 to grab their ninth win in a row and maintain a substantial lead in the Alaska Baseball League. The Anchorage Glacier Pilots move to 7-11 in the standings and fall farther out of second place.

The Miners' offense scored 14 runs Saturday night, and the pitching staff threw a shutout on Sunday night. The story again was the lack of hitting for the Glacier Pilots against the Miners' pitching, as in the seven-game series, the Pilots have scored fewer than four runs in six of them. University of Nebraska sophomore Gavin Balchowicz got the start on the mound for Mat-Su and completely shut down the Glacier Pilots' engines, giving up just two hits over five innings of work on his way to his first win of the summer. The bullpen would surrender only three baserunners over the last four innings, limiting the Glacier Pilots to two hits the entire game.

“The hard work these pitchers put in is paying off, and our offense gives the pitchers runs to work with. It’s special to watch,” said head coach Ty Lebrun after the win.

The offense did just enough, scoring all five runs in the first five innings to give the bullpen plenty of run support. Lincoln Stephenson finished with 2 RBI, and Greg Pierantoni had a double that scored the fifth and final run.

Everything seems to be going right for the Miners over the last two weeks. With 10 games left to play, Mat-Su is in a prime position to win its third regular-season ABL title in five years.

Miners offense plates 14 runs in blowout win

The Mat-Su Miners defeated the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks 14-3 in seven innings Saturday night. The miners kept their win streak alive, extending it to eight games in a row, and dropped Chugiak farther into last place in the Alaska Baseball League.

The Miners' offense hasn't slowed down throughout this win streak and scored another 14 runs in Chugiak. Every Miner in the starting lineup recorded at least one hit, and seven different Miners recorded a RBI. The offense totaled its most hits of the year with 17 on the night.

“Everything has just been clicking right now for all of us, and I think every guy comes in every day focused on the game that day,” said Central Missouri outfielder Lincoln Stephenson, who won player of the game versus Chugiak after a 3-for-4 performance.

The game was 5-3 Miners after five innings, but the bats exploded again in the later innings, scoring three runs in the sixth and another six runs in the seventh to grab a big enough lead for the mercy rule of 10 runs.

The Miners look unstoppable, massing a four-and-a-half-game lead over the second-place Anchorage Bucs and have won eight games in a row.