Miners sweep doubleheader against Pilots

PALMER — Runs have been hard to come by for the Mat-Su Miners.

Despite 36 hits during a four-game stretch, Mat-Su crossed home plate only eight times.

But things changed late Friday evening for Mat-Su.

Four different players scored runs to lead the Miners to a 5-1 win over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots during the second part of a doubleheader at Mulcahy Stadium.

“We’ve been getting our hits, winning, but we haven’t had those big scores,” Mat-Su head coach Ben Taylor said of the Miners, who improved to 8-2 with a doubleheader sweep of the Pilots. “It was nice to break out a little bit.”

Vance Vizcaino finished 3 for 3 at the plate, and scored twice in the victory. Alex Caruso, Nyles Nygaard and J.J. Hancock also scored runs. Mat-Su’s lack of runs scored during the recent stretch certainly isn’t due to poor work at the plate, Taylor said. The Miners lead the league with a .277 batting average. Mat-Su is also tops in the league in hits, doubles and total bases.

“We’ve been doing the hard part, getting the guys on base,” Taylor said of the Miners, who have also drawn a league-high 27 walks in Alaska Baseball League play. “We take our walks, don’t chase, don’t strike out a ton. We get on base, do the things offensively that teams should do.”

Taylor said if the Miners continue the solid work at the plate, the runs will come.

“If anybody saw the last three games at home, we probably lined out 15 times in three games,” Taylor said. “It’s not like we’re not going up and making good contact.”

Caruso, Vizcaino, Brick Paskiewcz and Jake Schleppenbach each drove in runs for the Miners, who scored twice in both the second and third innings of the seven-inning contest.

Kyle Simonds earned the win on the mound for Mat-Su, scattering four hits and one earned run over six innings. He also struck out six hitters.

Zach Warren tossed a gem to lead the Miners to a 2-0 win in the first game of the doubleheader earlier Friday. Warren pitched 6 2/3 innings, just a batter away from a complete game. Paskiewcz struck out the final batter of the game, to preserve the shutout and notch his fourth save of the season.

Warren, with a perfect 0.00 earned run average through two starts and three appearances, fanned 11 hitters, while allowing two hits against the Pilots.

“He’s pitching like what you would expect a high school draft pick, an SEC pitcher should be pitching like,” Taylor said of Warren, a University of Tennessee product. “What he’s giving us is fantastic.”

Nygaard was 3 for 3 at the plate to lead the Miners. Caleb Wood finished 2 for 3 with a run.

Matt Diorio singled and scored on a Jack Zoellner ground out in the fourth inning to give the Miners the 1-0 lead. In the seventh, Wood doubled with two outs. Alex Caruso singled to drive in Wood and push Mat-Su’s advantage to 2-0.

With the doubleheader victories, Mat-Su improved to 8-2 overall and 6-2 in league play. Heading into Saturday’s action, the Miners stood a half-game ahead of Chugiak (5-2). Mat-Su played the Pilots late Saturday night in the annual summer solstice game. First pitch was at 10 p.m. and results were not available prior to Frontiersman press time. For more see frontiersman.com/sports.

The Miners return to Anchorage to face the Pilots tonight at 6 p.m. Monday at 7 p.m., Mat-Su hosts Anchorage. Monday’s game will mark Mat-Su’s seventh game against the Pilots during an eight-day stretch.