Miners take advantage of early-season road trip to Kenai

PALMER — As Mat-Su Miners head coach Ben Taylor talked about his team’s 2017 schedule prior to the start of the season, the first thing mentioned was Mat-Su’s long road trip in Kenai during the first week of the season.

“I’m excited about the long trip to Kenai,” Taylor said early last week. “You get to know the players pretty well. It’s a great bonding experience.”

The six-game set against the Peninsula Oilers started last Friday and wrapped up Tuesday night. It’s Mat-Su’s lone trip to Kenai this season. With the Fairbanks-based Alaska Goldpanners no longer in the Alaska Baseball League, it’s also the only overnight trip the Miners will have this year. The remainder of their road games will be played at either Lee Jordan Field in Chugiak or Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage. Taylor said he sees it as perfect timing for the trip to come so early in the year.

“It tends to be very beneficial,” Taylor said. “We’re a very tight unit by the time we come home from Kenai.”

Mat-Su lefthanded pitcher Calvin LeBrun, who also pitched for the Miners in 2015, said the early trip will be great for the team. LeBrun said staying in the “Bingo Hilton,” gives players a great chance to bond.

The Bingo Hilton has great notoriety in the ABL, a barrack with bunks in a confined space attached to a bingo hall where the players on the road team stay during trips to Kenai.

“You get to mesh with all of the other guys,” LeBrun said the night before the Miners left for Kenai. “You get that cohesiveness.”

LeBrun also said he likes the timing of the road trip.

“It’ll really set us up for the rest of the year. If we go down there and play well together, it could really benefit us in the long run,” LeBrun said.

And the Miners have played well.

Monday, the Miners won for the fourth time in five games in Kenai, scoring an 8-4 win over the Oilers.

Andrew Nardi earned his second win of the summer, scattering six hits and two earned runs over six innings of work. The Miners also continued their tear at the plate, with 10 hits. Quinn Cotton, Austin Bull and Andy Thomas led Mat-Su with two his each. Blake Benefield blasted a solo home run. Spencer Henson drove in a team-high two runs. Seven different Miners scored at least a run.

The Miners swept a doubleheader on Sunday. Mat-Su opened the day with 15 hits during an 11-1 win over the Oilers.

Justin Ammons homered, Brandon Chinea tripled and Cotton hit his third double of the summer. Cotton, Thomas and Chinea had three hits each. Cotton drove in two runs and Thomas also scored three times.

Lefty Payton Robinson, a new addition to the squad, allowed seven hits over six innings and earned the win on the mound.

The Miners followed with a 5-1 win over the Oilers Sunday. Three pitchers combined to throw a four-hitter. Justin Blatner made the start, and earned the win after allowing three hits and an earned run over 4 1/3.

Benefield doubled and drove in two runs. Preston Pavlica was 3 of 4 with a run. Bull and Ammons scored two runs each.

The Miners return home to host the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks Thursday at 7 p.m. at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.