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ANCHORAGE — The Peninsula Oilers may have the easiest road to the Alaska Baseball League title. But the Mat-Su Miners are making things interesting.
Both teams won Thursday night, and the second-place Miners sit only 2 ½ games behind the first-place Oilers in the ABL standings. If the Miners have a hope of winning an ABL crown for the third straight season, Mat-Su will need a clean sweep during its final three games. The Miners would also need the Oilers to end their season with a losing streak. The Kenai club has four games left.
Ben Graff pitched seven scoreless innings to lead Mat-Su (18-15) to a 2-1 lead over the Anchorage Bucs at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage on Thursday. The big lefthander allowed only three hits. He fanned six, while walking two.
Anchorage (16-17) dropped below .500 with the loss.
The Miners took a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Michael Suiter led off the inning with a single and later scored on a Tim Zier single. Mat-Su took a 2-0 lead in the eighth when Dominick Francia scored as Ryan Ford reached on a fielder’s choice.
Zier and Francia led the Miners with two hits each. Suiter and Adam Martin also singled.
Brendan Lobban allowed two hits and a run in the ninth, but held on to save his first game of the year. Neal Dennison pitched a perfect eighth for Mat-Su.
The Oilers beat the Athletes in Action Fire 9-3 in Kenai Thursday night.
Mat-Su returns home tonight to host the Bucs at 6 p.m. at Hermon Brothers Field. The Miners and Bucs play in Anchorage Saturday at 7 p.m. and close the season Sunday at 2 p.m. at Hermon Brothers.
The Oilers continue a five-game series against AIA tonight in Kenai with a doubleheader. The teams also meet Saturday night.
The Oilers close their season at the Anchorage Glacier Pilots on Sunday.
The Miners are playing through their final stretch of games shorthanded. Mat-Su is down to only eight pitchers and 10 position players on the roster.
Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.
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