Strong finish

PALMER — The final two weeks of the 2011 Alaska Baseball League season has changed Brian Yocke’s view on the home run derby.

Typically, the Mat-Su Miners skipper sides with most field managers in fearing that, although entertaining, the long ball contest can lead to more harm than good when it comes to a player’s swing. It’s not uncommon to see a slump follow a derby.

And then there’s Adam Martin.

The Mat-Su catcher participated in the ABL home run derby in mid-July after spending much of his season in a slump. The Western Carolina product was hitting just .145 with no home runs and seven RBI.

But Martin blasted the competition to win the derby and become the league’s first home run king. And ever since, Martin’s been blasting the ball all over.

Sunday, Martin hit a pair of solo home runs and David Gibson pitched a complete-game three-hitter to lead the Miners to a 2-1 win over the Anchorage Bucs in their season finale at Hermon Brothers Field.

“That kid, ever since the home run derby, he’s gone on a tear,” Yocke said after the win. “Not just a home run tear, average, coming up clutch in RBI situations.”

Martin hit .345 in the 11 games that followed the home run derby. He drove in 12 runs, scored 11 and hit three home runs.

He also had a six-game hitting streak after the derby and had at least one hit in nine of those 11 games. He had at least one RBI in eight of the team’s last 11 and scored a run in nine of 11.

“Normally, the home run derby screws people up, but in this situation it really helped him,” Yocke said. “I’ve never seen it before.”

Martin finished 3 for 3 on the final day of the season, and hit solo shots in the third and sixth innings to help the Miners finish the 2011 season in second place of the ABL with a 21-15 record.

Martin stepped up to the plate in the third in a scoreless game and lifted a pitch over the left field wall.

“The first at bat, I got two fastballs up and away. My timing was a little off,” Martin said as he signed autographs for fans after the win.

Anchorage took advantage of a Mat-Su error and tied the game in the fourth. Martin led of the sixth and quickly broke the 1-1 tie.

“The second time I was sitting offspeed. I got a fastball out. After that, he left a change up in the zone,” Martin said.

With Martin supplying the offense, Gibson shut down the Bucs in the game. The lefty allowed only three hits and two walks during the seven-inning contest. He fanned seven and the only Anchorage run was unearned.

The Miners had planned to potentially use three pitchers in the game, but Gibson cruised.

“Gibby’s Gibby. That’s what he’s done all year long,” Yocke said. “He was just supposed to go a couple innings and he ends up going all game long. He’s just a workhorse.”

The game was originally slated for nine, but shorthanded to seven after a rain delay.

The win caps a season and ends the Miners’ roller coaster month of July. Mat-Su entered July as the top team in the ABL, but slipped to third after dropping seven games during an eight-game stretch early in the month. Mat-Su was also swept by the ABL champion Peninsula Oilers in a four-game series in Kenai.

The Oilers finished three games ahead of the Miners, the ABL champs in 2009 and 2010, in the standings.

“That stretch, the losses to Kenai really hurt us,” Martin said. “We were all disappointed after that.”

But after the home run derby and league all-star game on July 17, the Miners rebounded. Mat-Su was 9-2 during its last 11. Mat-Su’s team batting average during the final 10 games was about 100 points better than its first 30.

“We realized it’s about having fun. We just decided to make the best of it,” Martin said. “Coach Yocke told us (to) relax and have fun the rest of the season. You saw that today with (Stephen) Branca playing most all of the positions.”

Branca, who was named the team’s MVP last week, rotated through eight of the nine positions on the field in the game. He was scheduled to play all nine and end the game on the mound, Yocke said, but the Miners wanted to give Gibson his complete game.

Yocke said he’s thrilled with the way the season ended.

“Not just today’s game, but the last six games,” Yocke said. “Really, the last couple weeks. We’ve been playing together, having fun. It was fantastic.”

Typically, ABL teams end the summer with at least 22 or 23 players on the roster. This year, the Miners played shorthanded during the final stretch of the season and had only 18 on Sunday.

“The kids we have out here, the 18 guys we have left are the toughest, most competitive guys I think I’ve ever met,” Yocke said. “It’s been a privilege to work with them, a privilege to work with this community, with these fans. It was all great.”

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