Miners slide past Dons 6-1

PALMER -- Thursday marked opening night for the 2003 edition of the Mat-Su Miners at Hermon Brothers Field. The Miners played the first of 24 home games as they hosted the California Dons.

Mat-Su won its debut at the friendly confines of Hermon Brothers with a 6-1 win over the California Dons. The Miners gave fans many reasons to keep coming out to the ballpark, showing flashes of greatness with the bat and glove and excellence on the mound in the win.

Starter Brian Bach allowed just three hits and struck out three in eight scoreless innings of work to earn the victory. Bach walked just one hitter.

"That's what you'll see from Bach," Mat-Su manager Kevin Edwards said. "He throws strikes."

California's Bryan Harris was able to get on base in the first inning. Harris knocked a ball just out of the reach of Miner shortstop Josh Mader and was able to get aboard with an infield single. Don first baseman Kenny Lane knocked a dying quail just along the left field line in the fifth inning.

Lane did not hit the ball hard but placed it well enough to earn a double. Between the Harris single and the Lane double, Bach retired 12 consecutive Don hitters. Following the Lane double, Bach retired six of the final eight hitters he faced.

Ryan Heil pitched the final two innings for Mat-Su. He struck out five hitters, including the first four he faced. Heil struck out the side in the top of the eighth and the first and last hitter he faced in the ninth, allowing one run on a pair of hits in the ninth.

According to Edwards, Heil's appearance was his first outing on the mound in more than three months.

"He needed to get his feet wet," Edwards said. "He did not pitch the last half of the year for San Diego State. He throws two pitches for strikes, he'll get his work out of the pen."

Not only did the Miners get a solid performance from their pair of pitchers, Mat-Su also backed up its pitching with solid defense.

The majority of the California outs were ground balls to either the pitcher or the middle infield. California did not even get the ball out of the infield, on a grounder or a fly, until the fifth inning.

Second baseman Mike Kelly was particularly busy. The Monmouth University junior nearly hit double-digits in assists.

"It was unusual," Kelly said.

Kelly prevented an almost certain California hit in the fourth inning. Harris took knocked a pitch right up the middle for California and Kelly went behind the bag and made an off-balance throw to send Harris back to the Don dugout.

"I got a good jump on it," Kelly said. "I was able to see it come off the bat and come up with it."

Mat-Su catcher Matt Eichel also came up with a big play defensively for the Miners. California's Matt Guiliano got aboard in the sixth inning with a single to left field.

Following the hit, Guiliano tried to steal second. Eichel destroyed Guiliano's fantasies of a stolen base as he gunned down the Valley Center, Calif. native from his position behind the plate.

The Miners started a bit slow with the bat before heating up late in the game. Mat-Su did not record a hit through the first three innings, but recorded eight hits in the final six frames. Despite the fact Mat-Su did not record a hit until the fourth inning, the squad took a 1-0 lead in the third.

Eichel led off the third with a walk, rounded the bases and scored on a Michael Cooper wild pitch. Mat-Su took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a Kevin Noles RBI single. The New Mexico Junior College prospect knocked a ball into right field that scored Ryan Beglin.

Noles struck again in the sixth with a two-out, two-run single. Noles lined to left field and scored Matthew Inouye and Jase Turner.

In the eighth inning Kelly notched a bases loaded single for the Miners. The Kelly single was just fair as it hit the chalk on the right field line.

The single scored Inouye and Beglin and gave Mat-Su a six-run lead.

Random hits … Noles led the Miners going 2 for 4 with three RBIs … Inouye scored a team-high two runs … California used five pitchers in the contest … Cooper was tagged with the Don loss … California's staff walked five hitters, while Mat-Su walked just one … California and Mat-Su each recorded six strikeouts.