The Peninsula Oilers began their season with a pair of losses Monday in the Hardball Tournament at Coral Seymour Memorial Park.
In their first game of the season, the Oilers fell victim to a dandy pitching effort by the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks' Kevin Welch in a 2-1 loss.
In the nightcap, sloppy play put the Oilers on the wrong end of an 8-5 decision to the Mat-Su Miners.
In the first game of the tournament, the Anchorage Bucs defeated the Goldpanners 3-1.
The tournament continues today with three more games at Coral Seymour Memorial Park. The Goldpanners face the Miners at 1 p.m., the Bucs take on the Miners at 4 p.m. and the Oilers look for their first win of the season with a 7 p.m. contest against the Bucs.
The season got off to a good start for the Oilers against the Panners. Peninsula had two singles in the bottom of the first against Welch, but failed to score.
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Paul Coleman and Paul John Zobeck of the Oilers celebrate an easy out Monday at Coral Seymour Memorial Park.
Photo by McNair Rivers
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In the second, Peninsula's Cameron Blair led off with a single and moved to third when Ben Fritz made the first out of the inning on a ground ball.
After Paul John Zobeck struck out, Welch uncorked a wild pitch allowing Blair to score.
Meanwhile, Oilers starter, and eventual loser, Garrett Pennington was cruising. Through the first two innings, Pennington allowed just one hit.
Things changed in the third inning. With one out, the Panners loaded the bases against Pennington on a single and a pair of walks.
In the decisive play of the game, Jeff Culpepper stroked a single to center to score a pair of runs for the defending National Baseball Congress World Series Champions.
"We didn't get a lot of hits tonight, but we did have great hitting in the clutch," said Fairbanks manager Ed Cheff, whose team had just three hits on the evening.
Once Welch, who plays at Lewis-Clark State College for Cheff, got the lead, he settled in on the mound.
Over the last five innings, Welch allowed just three hits and didn't allow a runner to reach third base.
Cheff said Welch pitched in middle relief during the college season this year. However, Cheff said Welch came on strong at the end of the season. That led Cheff to pencil in Welch as an effective starter in the Alaska Baseball League.
Welch also benefited from some strong defense. In particular, Panners catcher Emerson Frostad cut down a pair of Oilers trying to steal.
Despite the low offensive output, Oilers manager Kyle DiEduardo liked the fact that the Oilers only struck out four times during the game.
He also said that Pennington looked good, except for his brief slipup in the third inning. DiEduardo said that may have been due to rustiness and fatigue.
Paul Coleman also threw 2 1-3 scoreless innings of relief for the Oilers.
In the nightcap, the Oilers grabbed a 4-1 lead but could not hold the lead. Peninsula committed three errors in the game, and pitchers Tim Day and Ladd Hall combined to walk six batters.
Joe Frazee and David Uribes had solid games offensively against the Miners. Frazee was 3-for-4 while Uribes was 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Monday
PANNERS 2, OILERS 1
Panners AB R H BI Oilers AB R H BI
Guerrero ss 3 1 0 0 Frazee cf 2 0 1 0
Strankman cf 3 1 2 0 Uribes ss 2 0 1 0
Bruce 3b 2 0 0 0 Bensko 3b 3 0 0 0
Culpepper 1b 3 0 1 2 Mann c 3 0 1 0
Frostad c 3 0 0 0 Blair 2b 3 1 2 0
Rodriguez 2b 3 0 0 0 Fritz dh 3 0 0 0
Best lf 2 0 0 0 Zobeck 1b 3 0 0 0
McClintock rf 2 0 0 0 Bacon lf 3 0 0 0
Davis dh 2 0 0 0 Dahl rf 2 0 1 0
Totals 23 2 3 2 Totals 24 1 6 0
DP -- Panners 1. LOB -- Panners 6, Oilers 4. CS -- Frazee, Dahl. SB -- Davis. SAC -- Davis.
Fairbanks 002 000 0 -- 2 3 0
Peninsula 010 000 0 -- 1 6 0
IP H R ER BB SO
Panners
Welch, W 7 6 1 0 1 4
Oilers
Pennington, L 4 2-3 3 2 2 3 8
Coleman 2 1-3 0 0 0 1 1
HBP -- by Welch (Frazee); by Pennington (Strankman, Elliot). PB -- Frostad 2. BK -- Pennington.
