Miners trail throughout, lose 4-1 to return to .500

CHUGIAK — It was a quick and somewhat undramatic game on Friday against the Chinooks. The home team grabbed the lead in the first inning and sailed pretty smoothly to victory. The result leveled both teams at .500 and tied for third place in the ABL. It also evened up the season series at two games apiece, with Chugiak the winner in each of the last two.

Mat-Su starter Drew Christo made his first appearance since shutting down Chugiak at Lee Jordan Field just one week earlier. The righty threw six scoreless innings, allowing just three baserunners back on the 16th.

But this time it was a much different go-around. Christo walked four of the seven batters he faced in the first inning. In the middle of the count to the sixth batter, Ryan Mathiesen, Christo tossed a pitch that skipped in front of home plate and over catcher Steven Lancia that scored the runner from third base.

The Nebraska product walked the eight and nine batters in the order (Tommy Rover, Mike Kelly) to begin the second inning. So after issuing six walks through one trip of the Chugiak lineup, Head Coach Ty LeBrun yanked Christo out.

The Chinooks would plate their second run of the game two batters later. After the leadoff man Ryan Leonesio laid down a sac bunt to advance both runners, catcher Blake Wilhoite grounded to first baseman Cooper Vest. Vest fielded it and threw home, but the bang-bang play didn’t work out for the Miners as Lancia applied the tag with the ball coming out of his mitt.

Offensively, it was an all too familiar story for the Miners, especially in the first two innings: Leaving runners on base. Lancia laced one of his three (3!) hits with two outs in the first frame. Then left fielder Maddox Haley lined a single. But right fielder Kaden Carpenter got unlucky. He smacked a pitch to right-center field, but Austin Young, typically the Chinooks catcher, robbed him of an extra-base hit (and a pair of RBIs) in the gap.

In the top of the second, designated hitter Landon Rogers worked a walk and second baseman Nolan Tucker singled a perfect bunt. However, third baseman Braydon Rogers grounded out, center fielder Sebastian Tomerlin struck out, and after shortstop Emilio Barreras walked, Cooper Vest once again got unlucky. The lefty first baseman out of BYU whistled a pitch that was tailing down the left-field line, but Ryan Callahan ranged over a made the play for the third out. It was yet another bad break for Mat-Su and Vest especially, who seems to hit hard fly-balls or line drives at least once, if not twice, every game.

Murray State reliever Ethan Lyke pitched effectively. He went five innings, allowing one earned run in the 4th inning after Tucker and Barreras teamed up for a 4-6-3 double play. Side note - the Miners have also struggled with finishing innings once getting two outs.

Preston Chaudin and Vinny Bianchi were also strong in relief for the Miners.

Chugiak’s Ryan Mathiesen, a quality fielder at third base, also earned the save in his fourth appearance as a pitcher this season.

Lastly of note, Lancia’s 3-for-4 day at the dish bumped up his average to .583 this season. He is 7-for-12.

The Miners don’t play a real game again until Monday against the Glacier Pilots.