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Mark Tracy was going to be ready for his third at-bat against Anchorage Glacier Pilots pitcher Jason Mitchell.

Keeping a log of Mitchell's offerings to him throughout the first game of a doubleheader on a sunny Saturday afternoon, Tracy noted some fastballs nibbling the corners, a couple he should have driven.

"It's not real good pitches to swing at early in the count," he said. "That's the one thing I've been looking for and trying to get going with is seeing a good pitch early over the middle of the plate and actually hitting it."

Seek, and ye shall find.

Wasting no time whatsoever, Tracy connected on the first pitch he saw from Mitchell with two outs in the sixth inning, depositing it well beyond the left-field fence in handing the Peninsula Oilers a much-needed 3-1 Alaska Baseball League win over the Pilots in seven innings at Coral Seymour Memorial Park.

"I was just trying to put the ball in play hard, that's all you really can do," Tracy said. "It's all you really want to do actually. Just put it in play hard and I got a good pitch to hit."

He knew it was coming, though.

Grounding out to Mitchell in the second inning and striking out in the fourth, Tracy was waiting for a fastball after Jonathan Kaskow walked with two down.

The pitch happened to be high and the designated hitter jumped all over it, yanking it over the wall.

"I try to keep a little couple notes and everything, just of what I'm getting and stuff and what I can expect," he said. "I try not to totally sit on a pitch, but you know, in that situation you can.

"I was sitting on it a little bit," he smiled. "I think that's another thing with going up there and sitting on a pitch. If you go up there and you sit on it, you're ready for it."

Mitchell, who had already thrown five impressive innings, allowing just four hits until that point, all coming in the third, may have been tiring.

If so, Tracy wouldn't know.

"I only saw one pitch in the sixth," he laughed, adding keeping notes has benefited his game. "I just keep track of what they're throwing to me. I think it's something maybe not all the guys like to use. ... I think it's been helping me a little bit."

The Oilers went on to sweep the doubleheader, capturing a 5-0, seven-inning win in the nightcap in pushing their winning streak to three games, all over the Pilots, and getting back into the ABL race with a 4-6 mark.

"I just think it's momentum and guys getting confident," Peninsula manager Jeff Walker said. "We talk about staying positive and staying with the process and the results are starting to pay off for some of these guys."

Especially Tracy, who had been 2 for his last 13 prior to socking the first Peninsula home run this season.

"He's a student of the game," Walker said. "That was obviously a clutch hit and the right time for it. Their guy came right at him and left the pitch up and he made him pay for his mistake.

"That was crushed."

Peninsula didn't record its first hits of the opener until Caleb Bushyhead singled to open the third and Joe Kohan followed with a looping base hit to right. Garry Kuykendall then easily moved both runners along with a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt and Kawika Emsley-Pai used a first-pitch, bloop single to right to tie the came as Bushyhead trotted home from third.

With just one out, though, the Oilers seemed poised to strike again and nearly did when Shayne Willson attempted a safety squeeze bunt. Kohan, however, was nailed at the plate and Emsley-Pai was then tagged after getting caught in a rundown between third and home on a sharply hit grounder up the middle by Kaskow.

"If it's a bad bunt, very worst we have second and third, two outs, stay out of the double play," Walker explained. "One, it was a bad bunt and then we compounded it by bad base-running.

"That play, I talk about, it's like hitting a free throw," he added. "You've got to have a nine out of 10 success rate on that bunt."

Oilers starter Kyle Barraclough, by his own doing, found himself one pitch from surrendering the lead in the fifth. After giving up a leadoff single to Casey McCollum, he fielded a sacrifice bunt by Anthony Hutting and rather than picking up the routine out at first, Barraclough fired wildly to second, the ball quickly scooting into center field. McCollum and Hutting then advanced to second and third, respectively, on a two-strike, sac bunt by Trevor Hairgrove and Barraclough then packed the bases by walking Drew Heid, who already had a pair of hits.

Walker was practically on his way out of the dugout to remove Barraclough from the game when the hurler waved him off, telling him he could maneuver through the jam.

So Walker left him in. Smart move, too.

With no room for error, Barraclough whiffed Jason Coats on a filthy curve and then needed just a single pitch to induce Geoff Kline to line out to a leaping Bushyhead at short in ending his outing after five sharp innings, over which he allowed just four hits while striking out two and walking one.

"I was ready to come out," Walker said. "He looked like he was getting a little tired and got a little sloppy and basically wanted it more than the other guys.

"He's pitched well from Day 1," he added. "Competitiveness, that's what wins game and guys like that go far in this game."

Tom Briner came in and provided two hitless innings of relief, striking out two and walking one in earning the win.

"We have confidence in him," Walker said.

Stranding three runners over the course of the opening two innings of the game, Anchorage didn't waste a two-out single by Heid in the third as Coats drove a 2-1 pitch to the left-center wall that scored Heid from first for a 1-0 lead.

"We're still looking to put some more runs on the board," Tracy said, "but we'll take it."

The Oilers, who took three of four from the Pilots and play again Monday at home against the Anchorage Bucs, did precisely that in the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday, striking for a run in the second and two in each of the third and fourth innings on a total of seven hits.

Chad Smith, who struck out five, earned the win after allowing four hits and three walks over five sharp innings. Nick Loredo then tacked on two quick, hitless innings of relief as Peninsula improved to 7-8 overall on the season.

On Friday the Oilers showed early on they were about to right their ship.

After loading the bases with no outs in the first before coming up empty-handed, Bushyhead singled with one out in the second, diving headfirst into first base and just beating the throw from first baseman Josh Meagher to pitcher Ryan Carpenter. Bushyhead then stole second and advanced to third on a ground-out before scoring when Marty Mullins' sharp grounder confounded Hairgrove at short, a costly error that would haunt the Pilots even more.

Willson then doubled to the right-center gap, easily plating Kuykendall and Mullins in staking the Oilers to a crucial 3-0 lead.

Anchorage (7-6 ABL) clawed its way back into the game in the third when McCollum reached on an infield single and Peninsula starter Scott Snodgress walked Hairgrove and Heid to load the bases.

Gunner Glad then sent a 2-2 Snodgress offering over left-fielder Jonathan Davis' head to the left-field wall, bringing the Pilots within 3-2. But Snodgress, who earned the win after allowing just the two runs on three hits and two walks over five strong innings, escaped the jam with back-to-back strikeouts.

The Pilots would muster just four hits the rest of the way as Mike Ratigan tossed three scoreless innings of relief, striking out two and walking one, while Josh Corrales wiggled his way out of trouble in the ninth to help the Oilers snap a four-game skid.