Pilots edge Miners in Anchorage

PALMER — The Mat-Su Miners took the lead in a wild ninth inning, but the Anchorage Glacier Pilots notched the walk-off.

Jordan Arruda used a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to answer a two-run homer by Mat-Su’s Spencer Henson in the top of the inning, and the Pilots scored a 6-5 win over the Miners Tuesday night in Anchorage.

Mat-Su (21-14) took a 5-3 lead with Henson’s league-leading sixth home run of the summer. But Anchorage (15-17) scored three in the bottom half of the inning. Dominic Foscalina drove in two with a two-out triple to tie the score at 5, and quickly scored on the Arruda single.

It’s the third time in nine days that Mat-Su has been part of a walk-off. The Peninsula Oilers scored a walk-off win over Mat-Su July 8 in Kenai. The Miners burned the Anchorage Bucs with a walk-off win the following night.

Both Henson and Nick Brooks went deep in the loss. Brooks hit a two-run shot that scored Henson and tied the score at 2 in the fourth. Brooks also used an RBI single in the sixth to give Mat-Su the sixth.

Mat-Su workhorse Josh Haley pitched at least seven full innings for the second straight start, but also received his second straight no-decision. Haley worked 7 2/3 innings, scattering five hits and an earned run. He fanned seven and walked only two. Haley, a University of Arizona freshman, leads the Miners and is second in the Alaska Baseball League with 44 innings pitched.

Henson and Brooks led Mat-Su with two hits each in the loss.

Mat-Su now leads the Oilers (19-16) by two games in the standings. Mat-Su hosts the Oilers Wednesday at Hermon Brothers at 6 p.m.

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