Rain and rally: Miners score wet win

PALMER — Not even the rain could stop a Mat-Su Miners rally.

Mat-Su weathered a big Chugiak inning and heavy rains to score an 8-5 come-from-behind victory over the Chinooks at a soggy Hermon Brothers Field Wednesday night.

Vance Vizcaino and Alex Caruso sparked a five-run Mat-Su fifth and four relievers combined to throw 3 1/3 scoreless in a weather-shortened seven-inning game to help the Miners improve to 2-0 overall, and win their 2015 home opener.

Before the big at-bats at the plate and scoreless work on the mound came sheets of rain that doused the 552 hardy fans in attendance, leaving everyone in the park questioning exactly how long the game would last.

“It was a classic Alaska Baseball League game,” Miners head coach Ben Taylor said after the win. “You’ve got the cold, the weather. Do we keep going? Do we not keep going?”

Rainfall was consistent, and thick at times, for more than four innings, before the sun broke free from the clouds at the tail end of the fifth.

“Not my favorite part of the game,” Vizcaino said of the rain. “But we came out on top, so that’s always good.”

Vizcaino said the rain didn’t present too much of an issue from his vantage point in left field.

“Watching the field, it didn’t really look like it was puddling up anywhere. Thick grass, good dirt. It seemed like it was going to hold up for us,” Vizcaino said.

Chugiak took a 5-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning, but the Miners were able to strike back in the bottom of the fourth and the fifth. Matt Diorio drew a lead-off walk, and Vizcaino scored on a Chris Hall single in the fourth to cut Chugiak’s lead to 5-3.

In the bottom of the fifth, the left-handed hitting Vizcaino knocked a ball deep into the left field corner. The opposite field double pushed a pair of runners, Diorio and Tanner Nishioka, across the plate to tie the score at 5.

“I’m a big guy that likes to go the other way. I’m not afraid to do it,” Vizcaino said of his hit. “If they throw it out there, I’ll slap it without a problem. It was a fastball up and away. After he fell behind on the first pitch, I knew something good was going to come my way, so I just tried to get a good swing on it.”

Jedd Fagg and Hall followed with consecutive walks to load the bases, and Alex Caruso, another lefty, used his opposite field double down the left field line to clear the bases.

“It was a really good inning,” Vizcaino said. “Caruso came up after me when the bases got juiced again, and drove everybody in. It was great.”

Vizcaino, Fagg and Hall all scored on the Caruso double, giving Mat-Su the 8-5 advantage. Taylor said Mat-Su’s work in the fifth is indicative of the type of ability the team has.

“This team, it’s kind of how we’re built. We’ve got enough power, we’re never out of a ballgame. We’ve got a catch-up offense,” Taylor said. “Get a couple of our quick guys on and we’re one big hit away all the time. So if we can keep things manageable, this team offensively has the chance to be really good.”

Nishioka led Mat-Su with two hits in the game, and scored two runs. Caruso and Vizcaino combined for five RBI in the fifth, and Hall, Fagg and Tyler Wolfe also drove in runs in the win.

Trent Thompson pitched two-thirds of an inning, and picked up the win. Eli Morgan, Thompson, Caleb McCann and Brick Paskiewcz combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings.

Zebastian Valenzuela started for the Miners, working 3 2/3. Valenzuela retired eight of the first nine hitters he faced before Chugiak struck for five runs in the fourth.

With the win, the Miners swept the two-game nonleague series against the Chinooks. After an off-day Thursday, the Miners open their 2015 league slate tonight at 7 p.m. against the Chinooks at Hermon Brothers.