Miners snatch first place from Glacier Pilots with defensive clinic

PALMER -- Mat-Su righty Brandon Downer tossed the league’s first nine-inning complete game pushing his Miners into first place with their 8-2 win over the Glacier Pilots in their final regular season home game on Wednesday night.

The Cal Baptist product fanned only four in the win thanks to the Anchorage bats’ aggression, hitting the first pitch of the at-bat into play on 11 different occasions. The Pilots swung on the first pitch throughout the game, shortening plate appearances and keeping Downer’s pitch count low. The California-native threw at most 18 pitches in every frame totaling just 102 pitches in the nine innings.

The Mat-Su offense stayed dormant early, recording its first hit in the fourth inning. The M’s added a run in the second frame with a series of walks and well-placed outs, and they barreled through with an R.B.I. double from third baseman Kaleb Hannahs in the fourth.

The brunt of the damage occurred in the fifth when Mat-Su first baseman Cooper Vest scored on an error by Anchorage shortstop Joey Wright. Miners designated hitter Maddox Haley followed up the stroke of luck with a hammer over the left field wall bringing around three runs on the homer.

Haley’s dinger marked his first of the season, coming at an opportune time on his grandmother’s birthday. The San Diego State-product injured his right ankle two weeks prior on Wednesday, Jul. 12 in a 13-5 home win over the Bucs, but the righty has played through the pain since returning to the lineup on Saturday, Jul. 22 on the road at the Chinooks. Haley hobbled around the bases in the designated hitter spot in each of the four games since then, heavily favoring that leg.

The heart of the order clutched up in the bottom of the seventh again. Catcher Steven Lancia boarded with a double with one out. Right fielder Kaden Carpenter slammed a triple in the next at-bat, scoring on a Haley single directly after.

The win elevated the Valley back into first place in the A.B.L., half a game over the Glacier Pilots and a game above the Bucs. Mat-Su heads to Anchorage for the final four games of the regular season with two against the Bucs on Thursday and Friday and the final pair of contests coming against the Pilots again on Saturday and Monday.