Miners shutout the Pilots

PALMER — The Mat-Su Miners took some much needed time to interact with younger ballplayers at their annual kids camp last week at Hermon Brothers Field, hosting dozens of boys and girls for drills and games with the Miners. The Miners have held first place for much of the season, widening their current margin over the second place Chugiak Chinooks to five games. The Miners are 22-8 with less than two weeks of play in the Alaska Baseball League regular season with a record of 22-8. Most recently, the Miners defeated the Anchorage Glacier Pilots 3-0 on Monday night at Hermon Brothers Field behind another stellar performance from ace lefthander Willy Johnston. Johnston threw seven innings and allowed just one hit, striking out 11 Glacier Pilots batters. Johnston now has 60 strikeouts in 45 and one third innings pitched for the Miners this summer.

Last week, Major League Baseball teams selected their future players in the annual draft, and seven former Mat-Su Miners were taken by Major League teams, including Drew Swift who went in the eighth round to the Oakland A’s.

“It confirms we know what we’re doing to an extend we know we’re recruiting the right guys but it just continues to show how storied this program is and how pete and i do a good job or the most part of recruiting the right kind of talent,” said Head Coach Tyler LeBrun. “It just shows that this league is now joke, that we can compete with any league in the country by far.”

The Miners began a four-game homestand on Monday. Mat-Su will take on the Anchorage Bucs on Tuesday and Thursday, split up by a game against the Piedmont Pride on Wednesday at Hermon Brothers Field. Later this week, the Miners will finish with two games against the Chugiak Chinooks at Loretta French.

Johnston was locked into a pitcher’s duel with Zuko Tillman of the Pilots on MOnday, going scoreless into the seventh inning. Mike Ferrara singled to score Casey Rother, and David Bermudez later singled in another run in the seventh. Tyler Wilson scored on a wild pitch in the eighth inning and the bullpen work from Evan Floyd and Alex Magers were able to complete the shutout of the Pilots. Magers struck out all three batters in his one inning of work.

The Kids Camp put on by the Mat-Su Miners every year gives opportunities for Valley boys and girls to interact with their favorite players on the Miners and learn more about the game of baseball.

“It’s a way for us to get back involved with the community. Pete and Denise [Christopher] do such a good job of getting our community involved with us, so it’s a way for us to get involved with them,” said LeBrun.

The Miners are poised to enter the Top of the World Playoffs with a high seed next week, and look to continue winning on their way to the playoffs.

“We love the Miner community and we love to see them come out but I’ve always said this we play great at Hermon Brothers in front of the greatest fans in the world, so we’ll keep doing our thing if we keep getting the fans to roll in,” said LeBrun.