Panners edge Miners; complete championship series sweep

ANCHORAGE — After falling behind early in the championship series with a lopsided defeat in Game 1, the Mat-Su Miners needed to find a way to pull themselves back into contention.

With a valiant effort in Game 2, the Miners were within reach of forcing a third game. But ultimately Mat-Su fell just short.

The Alaska Goldpanners used a 2-1 win over the Miners in Game 2 Wednesday afternoon to win the best-of-3 Alaska Baseball League Top of the World Series at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

“This is a really resilient team. They’ve shown that all year,” Mat-Su head coach Ben Taylor said of the Miners after the loss. “They showed great resilience today. They contested every pitch today. I couldn’t ask for a better effort. You always wish you could win the game, but I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Mat-Su starter Ryan Hendrix threw seven solid innings to help the Miners put themselves in the position to force a third game.

“Hendrix was absolutely amazing,” Taylor said. “So was (Ryan) Oglesby and (Vince) Arobio. They were fantastic.”

The trio combined to throw a six-hitter. Hendrix scattered six hits and one earned run over seven innings. He fanned five and walked two. The Texas A&M incoming sophomore threw 109 total pitches in the game, 70 for strikes.

The biggest moment in the game for Hendrix, arguably, came in the top of the third inning. With two outs Hendrix walked consecutive batters to load the bases after Brandon Caruso doubled for the Panners.

With the bases loaded, Alaska’s Vahn Bozoian, who stands among league leaders with nine home runs, stepped to the plate. Hendrix needed only four pitches to strike out Bozoian and end the inning.

“That kid really grew up over the summer,” Taylor said of Hendrix. “He made big pitch, after big pitch, after big pitch. He came up big for us. I couldn’t ask for a better start from

him.”

Oglesby worked 1 1/3 innings for Mat-Su, retiring four of the five batters he faced. Arobio pitched the final two-thirds of an inning for Mat-Su, and finished with a strikeout.

Jay Belk pitched four innings for Alaska, and earned the win. But Andrew Buehler was a difference-maker for the Panners. Buehler finished with four strikeouts and allowed only two hits en route to recording the rare five-inning save.

All of the game’s scoring came in the fifth inning. Tyler Mildenberg scored on a Brandon Caruso double to give the Panners the 1-0 lead. Caruso added to that advantage when he scored on a Scott Hurst single.

Mat-Su managed to cut Alaska’s lead in half in the bottom of the inning. Nick Blaser drew a leadoff walk and scored on a Jonny Locher single.

Alaska captured its second consecutive ABL title with the win. Mat-Su was in search of its fifth league crown since 2004. The Miners finished 26-14 overall and 21-12 in league play, and won the ABL National Division. The Miners and Goldpanners tied for the most wins in league play with 21.

While disappointed about the loss, Taylor said he’s very proud of his team’s accomplishments during the summer season.

“If you told me we’d tie for the league lead in wins, be the first team to clinch our division, we’d win our division and we’d play for an ABL title, I’d sign up every day of the week,” Taylor said. “I’m very proud of this baseball team and organization, very proud of everybody who made this year happen. It was a very special year for us.”

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