It took 12 innings and over three hours, but the Anchorage Bucs finally broke the tension in game one of a best-of-three Alaska Baseball League playoff series for a 1-0 victory over the Peninsula Oilers and a 1-0 series lead at Mulcahy Stadium.
Brennan Breaux provided the game-ending hit with a bases-loaded single lofted to right field off Oilers reliever Tre Brown in the bottom of the 12th.
Game two is slated for 7 p.m. tonight at Mulcahy, with the Oilers facing elimination.
Oilers starter Tevin Murray answered the call with a shutdown performance. Murray tossed a scoreless six innings of three-hit ball, whiffing five and walking three in a sparkling outing for the Oilers.
The Bucs went with starter Preston Snavely, who spun a 3.56 ERA this summer. Snavely gave up two hits in four scoreless innings, recording four strikeouts and four walks.
When Murray was eventually pulled, the Oilers didn’t lose a step as reliever Matt Amrhein spun four innings of scoreless relief with just one base hit, whiffing four along the way and facing the minimum number of batters.
However, Brown was given the loss with the late drama, giving up
The top-seeded Mat-Su Miners rallied to defeat the Chugiak Chinooks 5-4 in the first game of that playoff series. The winner of each series will meet for the Top of the World Series.
Murray wiggled out of a jam in the bottom of the third, getting the Bucs most dangerous hitter to ground into an inning-ending double play.
With the bases loaded an one out, Jake Vieth grounded out to first, and Koch relayed back to catcher Mackay at home plate to catch Logan Ehnes to end the threat.
The Oilers left the bases loaded in the first and second innings, first on a fly out by Ryan Novis in the first, then on a Grant Wood strikeout in the second.
