Panners take opening series from Oilers

Published 10:30 pm Sunday, June 6, 2021

The Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks defeated the Peninsula Oilers 4-3 on Monday in nonconference action at Coral Seymour Memorial Park in Kenai.

The Panners also defeated the Oilers 8-7 on Sunday to take the three-game, nonconference, exhibition series after the Oilers had won the opener.

The Oilers open Alaska Baseball League play on an eight-game road trip that starts Wednesday with a 7 p.m. game against the Anchorage Glacier Pilots at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage. The Oilers do not return home until June 19 with a 5 p.m. game against the Mat-Su Miners.

Monday, the Panners got a run in the second and three runs in the third. The Oilers answered with three runs in the third but could get no closer. Peninsula had a runner on third with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Ben Grunberg struck out.

Sunday, the Oilers staged a massive comeback that came up just short. Peninsula fell behind 5-0 after the first inning and 8-0 after the third inning.

In the bottom of the sixth inning in the seventh-inning game, the Oilers launched their comeback, scoring seven runs.

John Olmstead started the rally with a two-run home run to score Henry Noviki. Ben Grunberg then made it 8-3 when his double scored Andrew Sojka.

Grant Roosma then singled to score Grunberg. A Bryce Marsh single put two runners on for Cole Hage, who cleared the bases with a home run for a 8-7 game.