Miners win third straight ABL title

PALMER — Ten games into the summer season, the Mat-Su Miners sat at 4-6 in the Alaska Baseball League standings. Sunday, the Miners stood as ABL champions.

Mat-Su used a pair of home runs, an early lead and stellar pitching to blast the Anchorage Bucs 7-1 at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer. With the win, Mat-Su swept the best-of-3 ABL Top of World Series championship set, and scored the team’s third straight ABL title.

“This was toughest one of the three,” Miners sixth-year field manager Ben Taylor said as players, coaches and fans celebrated the win. “Probably the most satisfying, to see the way these guys grew up, how much they believed in themselves as the summer went on.”

Mat-Su, which won the regular season crown and home field advantage throughout the two-round postseason with a 27-17 record, finished 4-0 in the postseason. The Miners swept Chugiak in the first round, blanked Anchorage 1-0 on Saturday and cued the celebration with the 7-1 win Sunday.

“These guys are just tough,” Taylor said. “They took punches all year, but they’d get up and give them right back. This is a tough group of kids. They’re really fun to coach.”

Nick Brooks helped Mat-Su take a big lead early, blasting a three-run home run in the first.

“I had a pretty good feeling right off the bat,” Brooks said. “I was sitting curve ball, and got it.”

Brooks is one of four Miners to win their second straight ABL title. Designated hitter Spencer Henson, and pitchers Jacob Butcher and Nolan Monaghan were also on the team that won it all last year.

“It’s a great team win. Obviously every time you win a championship it’s awesome, but coming up here and doing it twice is special,” Brooks said.

Brooks and Henson were both key during Mat-Su’s big first inning. Henson sparked the two-out spree, with a single. After an Austin Pinorini single, the right-handed hitting Brooks cranked an opposite field bomb over the right field fence.

Taylor said the veterans, Brooks and Henson, were key to Mat-Su’s success in 2018.

“Those guys, they picked up a lot of slack, helped the younger guys. They helped the younger guys grow up,” Taylor said. “It’s immeasurable what they meant to us.”

Danny Wright added a run-scoring single and Tyler Bosetti drove a triple to center field to add another run. Josh Hatcher extended the inning with a single following the Brooks home run. The Miners had six straight hits with two outs in the first inning, and led 5-0.

“It’s something we talked about,” Brooks said. “Throw the first punch.”

Mat-Su starting pitcher Josh Haley earned the win on the mound after allowing only two hits and an earned run over seven strong innings. The University of Arizona product fanned six and walked only one.

“Haley was awesome,” Taylor said. “Haley was unbelievable, everything we could have hoped for.”

Haley said the five-run lead definitely helped.

“Big cushion right there,” Haley said. “A lot of the guys said, just do you, and compete. I simplified a lot of things.”

The lefty said the confidence that his teammates and coaches had in him also helped.

“(Taylor) pulled me aside in the clubhouse and said, hey you’re here for a reason, I throwing you Game 2 for a reason. Just have fun and roll with it,” Haley said.

It’s the second straight night that a Mat-Su starter worked through the seventh. Asa Lacey pitched seven during the 1-0 win over the Bucs on Saturday.

“Not only throw seven innings, but throw them well, it’s fun to play behind,” Brooks said.

Haley said his goal was to get through seven, and hand it off to the bullpen.

“We have the best bullpen in the ABL,” Haley said.

Set-up man Malachi Emond and closer Bryce Tassin each threw a scoreless inning of relief.

“When your guy goes seven, you’ve got a really good shot, especially when you’ve got Emond and Tassin behind them,” Taylor said.

Mat-Su finished with 13 hits in the game. Every hitter in the lineup had at least a single. Caleb Van Blake also went deep for the Miners.

Mat-Su is the first team to win three straight ABL titles since the Alaska Goldpanners notched the three-peat from 1993 to 1995. Taylor is the first ABL head coach to win three straight since Mike Garcia led the Bucs to titles in 1989, 1990 and 1991.

“We talked about winning three in a row. It’s something special, something not many teams have done before,” Brooks said.

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