Miners win division, will play for ABL title

PALMER — The Mat-Su Miners will be playing for another Alaska Baseball League title.

The Miners clinched the ABL National Division and a spot in the league’s championship series, the Top of the World Series, with a 1-0 win over the Alaska Goldpanners at Hermon Brothers Field Tuesday afternoon. The win, Mat-Su’s 19th in league play this season, combined with the Anchorage Glacier Pilots’ 4-1 loss to the Peninsula Oilers Tuesday assured the Miners a first-place finish in the Northern Division.

Anchorage’s best-case scenario is a 19-win season in league play. Mat-Su owns the regular-season series and the tiebreaker with the Pilots.

The Miners will play the winner of the ABL American Division in the three-game Top of the World Series, which starts July 29 at a venue to be determined. The Miners will be playing for their fifth league title since 2004.

As of Tuesday evening, the Goldpanners led the American Division with a 17-7 mark and a three-game lead over the second-place Anchorage Bucs.

Mat-Su starter Tyler Stubblefield was stellar in the win. The Texas A&M lefthander tossed a complete-game shutout. He allowed only four hits, and fanned 11 batters. Stubblefield also lowered his league-leading earned run average to 1.06.

Cameron Frost scored the game’s lone run, beating a play at the plate to give the Miners the lead. Terrence Connelly recorded the RBI on the play.

For complete coverage of the game, see the Friday edition of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.