Miners slam Oilers

July 6, 2007

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

PALMER - After Carl Uhl knocked a grand slam high over the right field fence of Hermon Brothers Field on Wednesday, the University of California Riverside product was about as surprised as anyone.

&#8220Nobody expected that much juice from Carl,” Mat-Su head coach Jeff Pritchard joked after.

But the Miners' smallest player posted the biggest hit of the night. The 5-foot-8, 180-pound center fielder's knock with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second sparked Mat-Su's 9-2 win over the Peninsula Oilers.

&#8220I was just trying to hit the ball hard up the middle,” Uhl said. &#8220That's pretty much my approach.”

But when he stepped up to the plate - after Ryan Ortiz was hit by a pitch, Ben Price walked and Chris McMurray singled to load the bases - Uhl said Peninsula starting pitcher Tyler Fleming served a fastball he could handle.

&#8220He left it up, and I just got it,” Uhl said.

The pitch was one of at least two mistakes Fleming paid dearly for.

In the third, Fleming tossed a curve ball Michael Ewing's way, and - like Uhl - Ewing blasted the pitch about 370 feet from home plate.

Ewing, who has three of Mat-Su's seven home runs this season, said he wasn't expecting the curve ball. But the Beaumont, Texas, native certainly took advantage of it.

&#8220He missed his spot,” Ewing said. &#8220(It was) right down the middle, hanging pretty bad.”

Behind the Uhl and Ewing home runs, Mat-Su scored six runs in the first three innings. Ortiz added an RBI on a sacrifice in the fourth.

Unlike the first three times Mat-Su played the Oilers this season, the Miners were able to jump to a substantial early lead.

&#8220It was kind of nice to touch up their pitching,” Pritchard said.

The Oilers arrived at Hermon Brothers Wednesday with an Alaska Baseball League low, 1.13 team ERA.

Last week during a three-game set against the same Peninsula club, the Miners fought to a pair of extra-inning wins and a tough 3-0 shutout.

Mat-Su scored only seven runs during the three-game series. But pitching paced the team in each of the three wins.

&#8220Our pitching has been light's out,” Uhl said. &#8220It was nice to give them some support.”

Alex Rivers pitched five strong innings for the Miners, and improved to 3-0 on the season. The Santa Clara product fanned four hitters and allowed only one run, a Robert Lundy solo shot in the third.

Rivers has only allowed two earned runs in 18 innings this summer.

Chris Cullen, Webster Beal and Michael Carlson pitched in relief for Mat-Su.

While the Miners used the long ball to score their first six runs, Mat-Su played small ball to push runners across the plate later in the game.

In the eighth, Price and McMurray scored on ground outs by Uhl and Donald Brown.

Price led off the inning with the walk, and advanced to third on a McMurray double. Uhl's ground ball allowed Price to score, and McMurray scored on Brown's hard ground ball to the left side of the infield.

&#8220We're getting guys over, and getting guys in when we need to,” Uhl said.

Mat-Su has found a variety of ways to score during a winning streak that now stands at seven games.

&#8220We like those big hits, but the little things are keeping us right there too,” Pritchard said.

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