Miners win first game in Wichita

WICHITA -- The Mat-Su Miners took their first step toward a third National Baseball Congress World Series title with a 6-2 win over Cape Girardeau in the Miners' first game of the two-week event.

Jeff Gilmore pitched six quality innings and Miner newcomer Nick Kliebert drove in three runs to lead the Miners.

Mat-Su designated hitter Scott Simon led the Miners at the plate with three hits. Kliebert, Josh Satin and Mike Paulk each picked up two hits for Mat-Su.

Kliebert, picked up off the Peninsula Oilers roster after the end of the Alaska Baseball League regular season, doubled to center field with two outs and drove in three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Satin, Nathan Faulkner and Clayton Carson each scored on the play to give the Miners a 3-0 advantage.

"It was a big knock for us with the bases loaded," Mat-Su head coach Mike Buchmiller said. "He had a good count and drove in three big runs."

With one out, Satin singled to left field and Carson and Faulkner followed with walks to set up the bases-loaded situation.

Leading 3-2 in the eighth inning, Simon broke the game open with a two-run single to left field to give the Miners a 6-2 lead. Carson doubled earlier in the inning and drove in a run.

Gilmore allowed just four hits and two sixth inning runs in six innings of work. The right-hander struck out six and walked just one hitter. The Stanford University product retired eight of the first nine batters he faced.

Ryan Edell and Joey Andrews combined for three innings of relief.

The Miners not only had to adjust themselves to a different time zone for the game, but quickly adjust from normally playing evening games to suiting up for an early-morning contest. The first pitch of the contest was at 12:30 a.m.

"You just have to think of it as another game," Buchmiller said. "You can't put too much of an emphasis on game time. You've just got to go out and play."

The NBC World Series is famous for having round-the-clock baseball for the first four days of the tournament.

Buchmiller said the change in time zone could have effected the Miners' play. The squad arrived in Wichita Tuesday, less than a day before the Wednesday night contest.

"We didn't play the best," Buchmiller said. "The kids were a little sluggish -- with all the travel, a little jet lagged.

"Anytime you can get a win in an opening game in a tournament like this, it is good."

With the win, the Miners move into a third-round match with the winner of a contest between the Palmer Springs (Calif.) Power and the Prairie (Ill.) Gravel, at a to-be-determined time on Saturday.

Random hits … Kliebert, Faulkner, Paulk and Cameron Blair each made their first start for the Mat-Su Miners. The players were picked up by the club an ABL draft following the end of the ABL season.