Miners start season

JEREMIAH BARTZ/Frontiersman sports editor

The Mat-Su Miners, the defending Alaska Baseball League champions, take their first step toward a second consecutive league title and return to the National Baseball Congress World Series, as they host an amateur squad from Southern California, Thursday at Hermon Brothers Field.

First-year head coach Jimmy Smith said he expects to have a limited number of players for the nonconference contest. The first three players arrived over the weekend. Six more were expected to arrive in Anchorage late Monday, and players will slowly come in through the week.

"It'll be a skeleton crew, but we'll be able to put a nice product out on the field," Smith said.

Smith and Mat-Su general manager Pete Christopher have put together a roster, at least on paper, that Smith believes has the muscle to take the Miners back to Wichita. But patience in the ABL is a key, as teams wait for players to trickle in. Mat-Su currently has seven players on the roster now participating in the NCAA Division I postseason. Other players are finishing academic requirements as college classes end.

The 2005 Mat-Su roster includes a mix of youth and veterans. There are nine college juniors on the roster, to go with 14 underclassman. Mat-Su has also brought four members back from the 2004 Alaska Baseball League championship squad.

Pitchers Haley Winter (University of California-Riverside) and Cody Campbell (San Diego State) return to the staff. Outfielder Brett Bigler (California-Riverside) and catcher John Hester (Stanford) also return.

Notable newcomers include pitchers Josh McLaughlin (College of Charleston) and B.J. Rosenberg (Louisville), infielders Darwin Barney (Oregon State) and Matt Bransfield (Notre Dame) and outfielders Ryan Krauser (Lower Columbia) and Cody Rizzo (Notre Dame).

Mat-Su completes a two-game series with Southern California on Friday, and after a break Saturday, the Miners start a stretch of 25 games in 25

days.

The first date on the Miner ABL schedule is June 20, as Mat-Su travels to Anchorage to take on the Bucs. The following day, Mat-Su meets the Glacier Pilots for the first time this season.