Pilots rip Miners

PALMER -- The sunshine gods smiled upon baseball fans at Hermon Brothers Field Sunday afternoon, but unfortunately for Mat-Su the baseball gods were not kind to the Miners.

With the mercury rising to upward of 80 degrees on the field, the Anchorage bats were equally as hot at the plate, as the Glacier Pilots collected 12 hits in an 8-0 win over the Miners.

The game marked the Alaska Baseball League opener for the Miners.

Anchorage took advantage of Miner mistakes in the sixth and seventh innings to break open the contest.

Holding a 1-0 lead in the sixth, following a John Still walk, Derek Schermerhorn laid down a bunt for the Pilots to move Still across to second base. Schermerhorn reached safely after members of the Miner infield rushed toward the bunt, without anyone left to cover first base. A sacrifice fly and a single to left field pushed Still and Schermerhorn across home plate and the Pilots took a 3-0 lead.

In the seventh inning, a hard Jason McGinnis ground ball took a bad hop over Miner shortstop Clayton Carson. The play sparked a two-run inning for Anchorage and gave the Pilots a 5-0 advantage.

"We made a few mistakes early," Miner manager Mike Buchmiller said. "They put up four right away, and one was earned. For the most part we made some mental mistakes and that allowed them to have the big inning."

Miner starter Kevin Tomasiewicz allowed three runs and three hits in seven innings on the mound.

"I thought Kevin threw a pretty good ball game," Buchmiller said. "He made one mistake early and the guy took advantage of that."

In the third inning, McGinnis -- a Service High School graduate -- drove a Tomasiewicz pitch over the Fred Meyer billboard ad on the left field wall of Hermon Brothers Field to give the Pilots a 1-0 lead.

While the Pilots had success at the plate, especially in the final three innings of the contest, the Miners struggled -- scattering just six hits in the contest.

"When you get down four or five runs, kids start to press and the other team subsequently relaxes, takes a breath and plays a little bit looser," Buchmiller said. "We played a little bit tight. It was the first league game. Our kids now know every league game will be tough.

"It's a grind."

The Miners have pair of opportunities this week to avenge the loss. Mat-Su travels to Anchorage tonight to face the Pilots at Mulchahy Stadium at 7 p.m. The teams also play on Wednesday.