Pitching, timely hits lead Miners to win

June 29, 2007

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

PALMER - It doesn't matter if he's playing small ball of using the long ball, Jeff Pritchard is going to be aggressive at the plate.

Pritchard, the first-year head coach of the Mat-Su Miners, called for the squeeze play Wednesday, and Michael Ewing scored on a Derek Helenihi bunt to spark a two-run eighth and a 3-0 win over the Peninsula Oilers at Hermon Brothers Field.

With the Miners holding a slim one-run lead with one out in the eighth, Helenihi put down a nearly ideal bunt into the grass right in front of home plate. Before the pitch even touched Helenihi's bat, Ewing began his charge home from third base. Ewing scored easily, and Helenihi beat the throw to first.

&#8220Some people like to call it small ball, but small ball can still be aggressive,” Pritchard said.

Judging by the reaction of the Oilers, it almost looked as if the Miners caught their opponent off guard with Ewing, a 6-foot, 200-pound infielder on third and the five-hitter at the plate.

&#8220I don't know if they were expecting it or not,” Pritchard said. &#8220The basic play would be to try to get swings off with the five-hitter. But fortunately for us, our five-hitter is pretty versatile. He had a triple the other night and squeezed in a run tonight.”

Helenihi scored later in the inning, reaching home on a Chris McMurray single.

The contest proved to be a pitchers duel for the top two teams of the Alaska Baseball League. The teams were locked in a scoreless tie until Joe Ercolano's double drove in Carl Uhl in the fifth.

Mat-Su got yet another solid outing from its pitching staff. Starter Alex Rivers allowed only six hits in six solid innings of work. Chris Cullen allowed just one hit in two innings. And Nate Garcia pitched a perfect ninth to record his first save of the summer.

&#8220I can't say enough about the pitching, as well as the (pitching) coaches,” Pritchard said.

Miners 3, Panners 2

The Miners scored three runs in the eighth to score a 3-2 come-from-behind win over the Alaska Goldpanners at Hermon Brothers Field on Tuesday.

Ty Rasmussen, Michael Ewing and Donald Brown each drove in runs during the inning.

Ewing, Carl Uhl and Ben Price all scored.

Max Peterson pitched a perfect inning to record the win. Matt Montgomery saved his second game of the season. Starter Joe Matteo went seven innings, only allowing two runs.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.