Tight race at the top of the ABL

PALMER - It's a tight race at the top of the Alaska Baseball League standings, and Matt Dorey, head coach of the Mat-Su Miners, is not surprised.

&#8220It's going to come right down to the wire,” Dorey said.

The Miners had held onto about a one-step advantage over the Peninsula Oilers until Friday. Aided by a their 10-2 win over AIA and Mat-Su's 3-2 loss to the Anchorage Bucs on Friday, the Oilers took a leap over the Miners and into first place in the standings.

The top two teams of the ABL were to meet Saturday, but that game was postponed because of weather. The Miners have rescheduled that game for July 21 at 4 p.m.

With their win Friday, Anchorage cemented itself in a race that includes four teams separated by only 2.5 games.

The Miners are charging into the final stretch of the season, a span of games that includes a home doubleheader against the Alaska Goldpanners, a four-game road trip against the Oilers at Seymour Park in Kenai and now a rescheduled home game against Peninsula.

Dorey said he doesn't look to one particular game or series toward the end of the season and think that will decide his team's fate.

&#8220I hate to say, ‘this makes or breaks our year',” Dorey said. &#8220Everybody's so close. Anybody can beat anybody on any given night.”

The Anchorage Glacier Pilots started the season as the kings of the ABL, but have since faltered a bit. The Oilers won 10 of 11 games during a stretch in early July, and surged toward the top of the league ladder. Mat-Su used five wins during its road trip to Fairbanks to float to the top.

By stealing two games of a three-game set against Mat-Su this week, the Bucs are also in contention for the league crown.

&#8220Each team has its own characteristics that make it good,” Dorey said. &#8220For us, it's our pitching.”

The Miners have a staff earned run average of 2.34, and five pitchers with individual ERAs below 2.00.

&#8220I think our pitching's the best in the league,” Dorey said. &#8220Good pitching and play good defense, and you'll be pretty tough to beat.”

Mat-Su starter David Gruener, who has a mere 1.07 ERA in 33 innings, allowed only one earned run in six innings of work against Anchorage, but the Bucs were able to scrape together enough offense for a 3-2 win.

&#8220It was a weird game,” Dorey said. &#8220There were runs off odd plays.”

Dominick Duggan ended up scoring from second on a ground out - somewhat of a baseball oddity. With Duggan on second base and Robert Taylor at the plate, the Bucs put the hit-and-run into motion. Just as Duggan took off toward third, Taylor hit a soft grounder toward the right side of the Mat-Su infield. With Duggan's speed, Mat-Su's only play was the out at first.

Anchorage took a 2-0 lead in the second. Taylor opened the inning with a single, and later scored on a Jason Castro single.

Rylan Sandoval gave the Bucs the two-run advantage when he scooted home on a Dustin Hood bunt.

Joe Ercolano supplied Mat-Su with its only run, scoring on a Brent Milleville sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Today's doubleheader against Alaska marks Mat-Su's first action at home versus the Goldpanners this season. The Miners were to host Alaska on June 26, but that game was postponed due to rain. It was rescheduled for the final night of the season, July 29.