Notes from the dugout…

Miners start road trip; Mat-Su on HBO?

By JEREMIAH BARTZ - Sports editor

Word around the ballpark is HBO may be coming to Palmer to do a television special on summer baseball in Alaska and the Alaska Baseball League.

A representative of HBO Sports contacted Mat-Su general manager Pete Christopher early this week about their plans to shoot the special in Palmer.

HBO's tentative plan is to do a story on the Alaska Baseball League and the Cape Cod Baseball League, with Palmer and the Mat-Su Miners being the cable superpower's ABL focus.

The network has said they will send a television crew to Palmer on July 2 and film the Miners' July 3 home contest against the Anchorage Bucs.

The story is to air on HBO's popular series Real Sports.

The long-running cable program is hosted by award winning journalist Bryant Gumbel. Contributors to the program include television journalism veterans such as James Brown, Frank Deford, Mary Carillo and Armen Keteyian.

Also on July 3 is Mat-Su Miners Kids Day, sponsored by Fred Meyer.

There will be numerous prizes award and kids get free admission into the ballpark.

Mat-Su 8, AIA 4

The Mat-Su Miners kicked off a seven-game road trip with an 8-4 win over the Athletes in Action Fire in Fairbanks on Thursday.

The Miners collected 12 hits in the contest.

Miner leadoff hitter Matt Young was 4-for-5 and cleanup hitter Matthew Inouye was 3-for-5 at the plate.

In his Mat-Su debut Jed Lowrie was 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

Steve Kline earned the win for the Miners.

The Mat-Su lefty was charged with just one earned run in six innings of work.

The Miners improved to 11-5 overall and 7-2 in ABL play.

Mat-Su plays seven straight games at Growden Park in Fairbanks, with the first four against the North Pole-based AIA club and the following three against the Fairbanks Goldpanners.

Mat-Su returns to the friendly confines of Hermon Brothers Field on July 3.