The Price is Right: Third baseman's clutch single leads Miners to sweep

June 19, 2007

By MATT TUNSETH/Frontiersman

PALMER - Just one weekend in, and there's already plenty of heroes to go around at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.

A night after Ty Rasmussen wowed the home crowd with two homers and nine RBI in a 20-1 blowout for the Mat-Su Miners over Three Rivers (Ore.), third baseman Ben Price took over as fan favorite.

Price's one-out single in the bottom of the eleventh inning scored Gunnar Terhune from third base to lead the Miners to a 2-1 win and a sweep of the visiting Oregon squad.

Combined with a 7-2 victory Monday night over Athletes in Action, the win helped the Miners move to 3-0 on the season.

Following Sunday's, the 6-foot-3 switch hitter said he got a pitch he could handle from Three Rivers reliever Jessie Sweet and just tried to find a hole.

&#8220It was a fastball in,” he said. &#8220I was looking middle away, but I figured I could turn on it.”

He did, rapping a sharp single into right and bringing the crowd to its feet.

The win was a bit of a relief for the Miners, who had several chances to pull ahead after tying the game in the seventh on an RBI single from Price. But Mat-Su stranded 14 base runners to allow Three Rivers to hang around.

Rasmussen nearly hit his second grand slam in as many days in the bottom of the ninth, but his drive over the left field wall hooked just foul - leaving things up to Price.

After the game, the University of California Riverside junior said he was confident he'd pull things out in the end, and that he enjoys being at the plate when the pressure is on.

&#8220That's a situation you want to be in every time you come up,” he said.

On Monday against Athletes in Action, center fielder Carl Uhl took the hero's mantle, going 4-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. The UC Riverside speedster also stole three bases, bringing his season total to five.

After Sunday's dramatic win, Rasmussen said he believes the Miners' hot start is due to a strong bond that is already forming among the team.

&#8220I think it's going to be a fun summer,” he said.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@

frontiersman.com

Miners 2, Three Rivers 1 (Sunday, 11 Inn.)

MAT-SU

name ab r h bi

Uhl cf 5 0 2 0

Price 3b 6 0 3 2

Rasmussen dh 5 0 1 0

MEwing 1b 4 0 1 0

August lf 2 0 0 0

Hanlon lf 1 0 0 0

McConnell c 4 0 0 0

Helenihi ss 2 1 0 0

Breck 2b 2 0 0 0

Terhune 2b 2 1 1 0

Totals 37 2 9 2

THREE RIVERS

Name ab r h bi

Deutschman 1b 4 0 1 0

Flaskerud ss 5 0 1 0

Anderson lf 5 0 0 0

Jacobsen dh/rf/lf 5 1 2 0

Crow rf/p 3 0 0 0

Rainwater rf 2 0 1 0

Bond 2b 2 0 0 0

Mais cf 3 0 1 1

Jarvis 3b 2 0 0 0

Reed 3b 1 0 0 0

Ottemiller c 2 0 0 0

McClaughry ph 1 0 0 0

Laxague c 1 0 0 0

Totals 36 1 6 1

3 RIVERS 000 100 000 00 - 1

MAT-SU 000 000 100 01 - 2

E - Three Rivers 2 (Flaskerud, Bond), Mat-Su 2 (Brown, Eskew). LOB - Three Rivers 7, Mat-Su 14. 2B - Uhl, Jacobsen. DP - Three Rivers 1. SB - Terhune, Bond, Mais. CS - August.

3 RIVERS IP H R ER BB SO

Reed 4 2 0 0 2 1

Crow 1.2 1 0 0 2 2

Grieve .2 1 1 1 1 0

Meacock 0 1 0 0 1 0

Carpenter .2 0 0 0 0 0

Deutschman 3 1 0 0 3 1

Sweet, L .1 3 1 1 0 0

MAT-SU

Eskew 3 0 0 0 1 5

Cullen 2 4 1 1 0 3

Beal 2 1 0 0 1 2

Rivers 1 0 0 0 0 1

Montgomery, W 3 1 0 0 0 2

Miners 7, AIA Fire 2 (Monday)

MAT-SU

name ab r h bi

Uhl cf 4 2 4 2

Price 3b 4 1 0 0

Brown rf 3 0 1 1

Rasmussen dh 3 1 1 1

MEwing 1b 3 1 1 0

Helenihi ss 4 0 2 2

Hanlon lf 4 0 0 0

McMurray c 3 1 0 0

Terhune 2b 4 1 2 0

Totals 32 7 11 6

ATHLETES IN ACTION

Name ab r h bi

McGraw cf 4 0 0 0

Kmiecik 3b 3 0 0 0

Nieuwenhuis lf 4 0 1 0

Staples dh 2 1 0 0

Miller 1b 4 1 2 2

Lancaster c 4 0 1 0

Root rf 4 0 1 0

Winn 2b 3 0 1 0

Totals 32 2 7 2

AIA 000 200 000 - 2

MAT-SU 001 002 310 - 7

E - Kmiecik. DP - AIA 1. LOB - AIA 6, Mat-Su 8. 2b - Rasmussen, Helenihi, Nieuwenhuis. 3b - Uhl. HR - Miller. SB - Uhl (3), Brown, Terhune, McMurray, Price, Lancaster. CS - Helenihi.

AIA IP H R ER BB SO

Millard 5 5 1 1 2 3

Denney 1 3 5 4 3 2

Matkaitis 1 1 0 0 1 0

Bennett 1 2 1 1 1 1

MAT-SU

Matteo 6 7 2 2 2 2

Beal 1 0 0 0 0 2

Cullen 1 0 0 0 1 0

Carlson 1 0 0 0 0 1