Miners top Pilots, drop doubleheader to Bucs

ANCHORAGE — A day after beating the Anchorage Glacier Pilots for a fourth straight time, the Mat-Su Miners tried to accomplish another task — beat the Anchorage Bucs for the first time this season.

Following a 6-4 win over the Pilots Saturday evening at Mulcahy Field, the Miners began the first game of a doubleheader with the Pilots 0-2 against their Alaska Baseball League rivals. But a 3-2 loss in extra innings in the first game and a 4-0 loss in the nightcap left the Miners still winless against the Pilots.

In the first game Sunday, the Miners trailed 1-0 heading into the sixthinning of what was supposed to be a seven-inning game because it was a part of a doubleheader. Outfielder Christin Stewart would hit his team-leading third home run of the season to tie at the game at 1.

In the top of the eighth, it was Stewart again who got the offense going as he doubled to lead off the inning. Third baseman Spencer Mahoney drove Stewart in with a sacrifice fly to give the Miners a 2-1 lead. Mahoney finished the game 1-3 and boosted his batting average to .314.

“It speaks as much to the team itself knowing that you can struggle so hard at the beginning of the year for a week, two weeks, and still have a group of guys that are supporting you,” Mahoney said. “I’ve been through these struggles before and it hasn’t come out this easily.”

The Bucs tied the game in the bottom of the eighth when last year’s ABL Player of the Year, Chase Compton, hit an RBI single off of Drew Smith. Bucs catcher Michael Strenz won the game in the bottom of the 10th with an RBI single that drove in Tyler Coolbaugh.

“Other than walking out with a win in game one, I really can’t ask anything more of my team,” Miners head coach Ben Taylor said. “They play unbelievably hard, we play good defense, we pitch and we get clutch hitting.”

Miners’ starting pitcher Trevor Bettencourt went six innings giving up one run on two hits while bringing his ERA down to 1.88. Stewart finished the game 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs.

In the second game, the Miners were unable to bounce back. The 4-0 loss also dropped the Miners out of first and into a tie with the Bucs with both teams a half game back of the Alaska Goldpanners.

“The second game of the doubleheader was predicated by the game last night against the Pilots and game one today,” Taylor said. “Both were huge, emotional, tough environment games that took a lot out of our team, and it was more of a struggle than it been to that point, but that’s baseball.”

Third baseman Spencer Mahoney would go 1-for-3 at the plate with one of the two hits the squad had in the game. Shortstop AJ Simcox recorded the only other hit in the game.

Bucs starting pitcher Andrew Boes threw four innings of shutout ball while giving up just one hit in picking up the win.

“Unfortunately, we came out flat and didn’t have the energy that we had in the first game,” Mahoney said. “The pitcher did a good job of keeping us off balance the entire day. All of their pitchers did that and we kicked it around a little on the field.”

Pitcher Cody Ponce made his Miners debut out of the bullpen, throwing 2 2/3 innings and giving up no runs or hits.

Miners 6, Pilots 4

The Miners accomplished a number of tasks with Saturday night’s 6-4 win over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots at Mulcahy Field. The Miners claimed sole possession of first place in the standings as well as won the season series against the Pilots.

The team trailed 3-0 heading into the fourth inning when outfielder Christin Stewart drove in Gio Brusa with an RBI triple and cut the lead to 3-1. The Miners would tie the game at 3 in the fifth after Nick La Face and Ben Wylly came across the plate.

The squad took the lead in the eighth inning after Stewart sent a two-run homer over the right field wall to make it a 5-3 game. Stewart brought his Alaska Baseball League-leading RBI total to 15 after his game-winning homer.

“It was a change-up and I wasn’t really expecting a change-up,” Stewart said. “I had two strikes already, so I knew I had to swing at something around the plate I took a good swing, got good extension on it.”

The Miners’ have won the first four of the team’s six games with the Pilots.

“Anytime you can beat a team four times in a row is a special thing, especially as good of a team as the Pilots are,” coach Taylor said. “It just showed unbelievable toughness for our guys and it’s a real confidence booster.”

Pitcher Mitch Warner entered the game in the bottom of the fourth inning with runners on first and second and no outs. Warner would not only get out of the jam without surrendering a run, but went on to pick up his second win of the season for the Miners.

“As a reliever, those are the innings you want, the ones that matter for the game instead of mop-up duty,” Warner said. “Coming into innings like that are what you dream about and what you want to be in.”

The lefty threw 4 1/3 innings, giving up just one run before handing the ball over to closer Drew Smith, who picked up his second save. This was another game in which the Miners had to play catch-up, a scenario that has not fazed the team, Taylor said.

“Every night in the ABL is going to be a tough night,” he said. “You’ve got to be prepared, and our guys have done a good job with that.”

Mario Gonzalez is media advisor for the Mat-Su Miners.