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PALMER — Carl Uhl knows a little something about hitting in Hermon Brothers Field.

A regular on Mat-Su’s Alaska Baseball League title-winning squad last season, Uhl returned to Palmer to haunt his former team.

Uhl smacked a leadoff homer and drove in three runs in the first inning to lead the Anchorage Glacier Pilots to an 8-6 win over the Miners on Thursday at Hermon Brothers.

Uhl took Mat-Su starter Garrett Richards’ third offering and pushed it over the right field wall to spark a seven-run first inning for the Pilots.

“It was a 2-1 fastball. He was throwing hard, but I just got out in front of it, and I was able to get it over,” Uhl said.

Uhl, Mat-Su’s starting center fielder last year who led the Miners with 38 hits and 33 runs, posted both of his hits in a first inning in wich Richards saw the Pilots bat around.

After posting the leadoff dinger, Uhl used a bloop single to push two runs across the plate and give the Pilots the 7-0 advantage.

“He was just getting behind and had to throw his fastball,” Uhl said of the Miners’ starter. “And we were just hitting it.”

Todd Sebek, Joseph Terdoslavich and Luke Yoder also singled and scored in the inning.

Richards, a pitcher who has been used primarily in relief this summer, was tagged for seven runs on six hits in only one run of work.

“He really didn’t have it today,” Mat-Su head coach Conor Bird said of Richards. “They put the ball in play, and we made a couple mistakes.”

Despite the disastrous first inning, the Miners did put themselves in the position to get back into the ball game.

Mat-Su scored five runs in the third inning, and reliever Charles Ruiz allowed five hits and kept the Pilots scoreless over six innings of work.

While Richards was shaky in the first, Ruiz was effective. The San Leandro, Calif., native didn’t allow multiple baserunners until the sixth inning.

“He gave us a chance to win,” Bird said of Ruiz. “He threw up six zeros for us; did a great job.”

Mat-Su paired two hits with a few Anchorage miscues to notch a five-run inning in the third.

Third baseman Will Musson walked and scored early in the inning to put the Miners on the scoreboard, and left fielder Jordin Hood sent blooped a double down the left field line to send both John Shaffer and Ty Rasmussen home.

Hood singled in the inning, while Rasmussen reached on an error.

Center fielder Ryan Jensen walked an scored on a Troy Scott sacrifice fly to cut the score to 7-4, and Hood scored on an Anchorage passed ball to bring the Miners within two.

But like Anchorage, the bulk of Mat-Su’s offense came in one inning.

Musson singled to drive in Steve Domecus in the eighth inning, but the Miners weren’t able to jump the Pilots on the scoreboard.

“We couldn’t get that really big hit today,” Bird said. “We had chances to tie the game, chances to win the game with some of our bigger bats up and it didn’t happen.”

Musson’s RBI-single cut Anchorage’s lead to 7-6 in the eighth. With Musson at first and designated hitter D.J. Gentile at third, Bird said the Miners tried a ‘leave play’ to get the tying run across the plate.

Musson took off toward second before pausing, trying to get Anchorage pitcher Zachary Quate’s attention while Gentile went home.

Bird said the idea behind the play is to get the pitcher into a situation in which he does not know what to do. Unfortunately for the Miners, Anchorage was able to tag Musson out before Gentile reached home.

“If (Musson) could have stayed in that run-down a little longer, he would have scored,” Bird said.

Anchorage held the Miners to five hits in the game.

Shaffer, Jensen, Hood, Domecus and Musson each collected on hit.

Terdoslavich and Yoder led the Pilots with three hits each. Uhl drove in a team-high three runs, doing all of his damage in the first inning.

Uhl, a University of California-Riverside junior, at one point was hoping he could play a second summer in a Mat-Su uniform. Actually playing for the Miners was one of just one of several routes his baseball career could have taken him this summer.

At one time, Uhl thought he may play in the Cape Cod League. There was also potential for the Phelan, Calif., native to sign with a Major League Baseball squad.

Uhl said he didn’t get into the “Cape” because Cape Cod League teams thought he would sign with an MLB club, but after a sub-par junior season’s Uhl slipped into the MLB draft and wasn’t selected until the 48th round.

“I was hoping to go top 15 (rounds),” said Uhl, who was picked by the Colorado Rockies. “And I probably would have signed.

“There’s still a chance that maybe I can sign toward the end of the summer, depending on how it goes.”

Once he didn’t have the chance to sign or play in the Cape Cod League, Uhl looked toward Mat-Su and the ABL.

“I called (the Miners) but they were full of outfielders, so I had nowhere to go,” Uhl said.

Uhl landed in Anchorage, thanks to Glacier Pilots assistant coach Rusty McNamara, who is also an assistant at California-Riverside.

Even though he was wearing Anchorage blue instead of Mat-Su green, Uhl said he enjoyed his time back in a familiar park.

“It’s my first day back,” Uhl said. “It was cool.”

Miners add infielder

Mat-Su has added infielder Sean Rockey to the roster, Miners general manager Pete Christopher said on Thursday.

Rockey, a George Washington University sophomore, hit .321 during the college season. He also scored 42 runs and collected 27 RBI.

Rockey started his college career at Columbia Basin Community College in Washington before spending one season as a redshirt at Oregon State.

Christopher said the Miners are bringing in Rockey because of injuries in the infield.

Shortstop Kevin Rodland suffered a minor finger injury during a loss to the Glacier Pilots earlier this week, and infielder James Ewing is done for the summer after re-injuring an old back injury.

Rockey was recommended to Christopher by Mat-Su’s Ty Rasmussen, who is a former teammate of Rasmussen in their home state of Washington.

Miners make schedule changes

Mat-Su has made a few minor changes to its upcoming schedule. Today, the Miners will host the Anchorage All-Stars, an adult league baseball team at 7 p.m. at Hermon Brothers.

The Miners were originally scheduled to play a team from Taiwan.

On Wednesday, the Miners will host the Alaska Goldpanners in a doubleheader at Hermon Brothers. Mat-Su and Alaska meet in a seven-inning game at 3 p.m., and a nine-inning contest will follow.

The addition of the doubleheader is thanks to a rain out on July 7.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.