RALLY IN THE VALLEY: Miners bounce Bucs twice to win 2nd straight ABL title

PALMER — The Mat-Su Miners spent virtually the entire season on top of the Alaska Baseball League standings. But after a 4-0 loss to the Anchorage Bucs Friday night, Mat-Su was on brink of elimination in the ABL’s Top of the World Series.

Mat-Su needed a rally in the Valley.

And the Miners rallied. Now, the Miners are, once again, Alaska Baseball League champions.

The Miners pummeled the Bucs during a pair Saturday, sweeping a doubleheader at Hermon Brothers Field, the final two games of the best-of -3 set, to win the ABL Top of the World Series championship for the second consecutive year.

“We just took it one inning at a time,” Mat-Su infielder Rainer Ausmus said as the Miners celebrated after a 7-1 win over the Bucs in the third game of the series. “Our mantra was win each inning today, and it snowballed from there. It ended up going really good for us. It was a great day.”

Ausmus used a big blast Saturday afternoon in the first game of the day second contest of the series to help the Miners force a third game with a 13-3 victory. Ausmus hit a grand slam that was part of Mat-Su’s nine-run eighth inning.

“After I hit it, I knew it was gone,” Ausmus said.

And after he hit it, the Miners knew they had the momentum.

“That’s when we knew, all of us,” Miners catcher Andy Thomas said. “No doubt, if we get to that third game, we were winning it.”

Ausmus said Mat-Su’s nine-run eighth sparked the Miners.

“After that, I thought we had the momentum,” Ausmus said. “(Anchorage is) a good ball club, but we just had it. There was no way we were giving this one away.”

Catcher Ryan Haug also had a key two-run double earlier in the inning. The Miners drew six walks in the eighth. Nick Brooks and Quin Cotton each pushed a runner across the plate with a base on balls.

Mat-Su entered the eighth clinging to a 4-3 lead over the Bucs. Mat-Su head coach Ben Taylor said the key run came in the seventh when Haug scored on an Ausmus single.

“We were plugging away. When we went ahead 4-3 it was like a big gorilla lifted off our back,” Taylor said. “We were us from then on out.”

Mat-Su finished with 10 hits during the second game of the series. Austin Bull doubled twice. Bull and Ausmus had three runs each and Ausmus drove in five. Thad Ward pitched 5 2/3 of relief and earned the win on the mound. Ward fanned four, while allowing only three hits and no earned runs.

Mat-Su followed with the 7-1 win to clinch its second straight ABL crown and sixth since 2004.

“It’s just unbelievable to see the guys step up the way they did, respond the way they did, put it all on the line for this team, this (organization),” Taylor said. “It’s just an unbelievably special day.”

The Miners added 11 hits in the second game of the doubleheader. Austin Dennis doubled and tripled. Thomas added two hits and two RBI. Bull and Dennis scored two runs each.

Payton Robinson made the start and allowed only three hits and an earned run, and earned the win. He fanned four. Jake Suddreth and Josh Green pitched two innings each of scoreless relief.

“The energy was fantastic. The pitching performances were fantastic,” Taylor said.

The Miners finished the season with a 39-15 overall record.

“Unbelievable summer. The perfect way to cap it off,” Ausmus said.

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