The Peninsula Oilers split with the Mat-Su Miners at Coral Seymour Memorial Park in Kenai, winning 9-6 on Friday before dropping a 4-1 contest on Saturday.
The split leaves the Oilers at 7-7 in the Alaska Baseball League. Peninsula is 1 1-2 games behind the Anchorage Bucs in the race for the American League. The Alaska Goldpanners are tied for second with the Oilers.
The Oilers take Sunday off before heading on a road trip where they will play six games in five days.
Friday, Alex Rubanowitz had a big game to lift the Oilers to victory.
Rubanowitz finished 3 for 4 with three runs and two RBIs, tossing in a double and a home run.
Rubanowitz hit his home run in the first inning to post a 1-0 Oilers lead.
Mat-Su jumped to a 3-1 lead after its half of the third, but the Oilers came back to tie the game in the bottom of the frame.
Drake Zarate, who finished 2 for 4, led off with a double, then Jake Sandlin walked and Rubanowitz had a single to score Zarate. Sandlin would score on a fielder’s choice from Mylz Jones.
Mat-Su took a 4-3 lead after the fourth, but the Oilers rallied to take the lead for good in the fifth.
Josh Rose led off with a walk, and Sandlin singled to put runners on the corners.
Sandlin was caught stealing, but Rubanowitz walked. Jones singled to scored Rose, then Ethan McGill had a sacrifice fly to score Rubanowitz. Jones would score on a wild pitch.
Mat-Su cut the gap to 6-5 in the top of the seventh, but in the bottom of the seventh Rubanowitz doubled and scored on a single by McGill.
The Oilers got even more breathing room in the eighth, when Jeff Paschke, who finished 2 for 3, started the inning with a single. Zarate doubled to score Paschke, then Zarate scored on a double by Jordan Sanford.
Tyler Gibson got the win for the Oilers in relief, pitching a scoreless two-thirds of an inning. Paschke pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.
Saturday, errors hurt the Oilers. Scott Torrey took the loss in relief, giving up three unearned runs in 1 2-3 innings of work.
The Oilers got their lone run in the second inning, when Sanford led off a double and would score on a grounder by Paschke.
But the Miners would get one run in the fourth inning and three in the eighth inning to take control of the game.
Sanford and Nick Thurman each finished 2 for 4 for the Oilers.
Friday
Oilers 9, Miners 6
Miners AB R H BI Oilers AB R H BI
Pine ss 5 0 0 0 Sdln cf 3 1 1 0
Nwl rf 3 2 1 1 Rbwz 3b 4 3 3 2
Lcr dh 5 1 2 0 Jns ss 5 1 1 2
Snzl 2b 4 1 1 0 McGl 1b 3 0 1 2
Frst cf 5 1 2 0 Hrdz 2b 3 0 1 0
Nau c 5 1 2 1 Pske dh 3 1 2 0
Wrlh lf 2 0 0 2 Trmn c 4 0 0 0
Rgrs 3b 4 0 1 0 Zrte lf 4 2 2 1
Smns 1b 4 0 0 0 Rse rf 2 1 0 0
—- — — — — Sfrd ph 1 0 1 1
—- — — — — Rski rf 0 0 0 0
Totals 37 6 9 4 Totals 32 9 12 8
Miners 021 100 200 —6
Oilers 102 030 12X —9
2B — Rubanowitz, Zarate 2, Sanford. 3B — Frost. HR — Newell, Rubanowitz. SF — McGill. SB — Newell. CS — Senzel, Sandlin. LOB — Miners 10, Oilers 6. DP — Oilers 1, Miners 1.
IP H R ER BB SO
Miners
Ferrendelli 4 1-3 7 6 6 3 3
Decker 2-3 0 0 0 0 0
Terrazas 1 2-3 2 1 1 0 1
Reid 2-3 3 2 2 1 0
Rodriguez 2-3 0 0 0 0 0
Oilers
Mason 5 8 4 3 1 3
Richey 1 0 0 0 0 0
Rieser 1-3 0 2 0 2 1
Gibson, W 2-3 0 0 0 1 0
Sheridan 1 0 0 0 0 0
Paschke, S 1 1 0 0 0 1
WP — Ferrendelli, Decker. HB — Ferrendelli, Decker, Mason. T — 2:53.
Saturday
Miners 4, Oilers 1
Miners AB R H BI Oilers AB R H BI
Pne ss 5 0 2 0 Sdln cf 4 0 0 0
Nwl rf 5 0 0 0 Rbwz 2b 4 0 1 0
Lchr lf 4 1 1 0 Jns ss 2 0 1 0
Snzl 3b 4 0 0 0 McGl 1b 4 0 0 0
Frst cf 4 1 1 0 Snfd 3b 4 1 2 0
Myr c 3 1 3 0 Zrte lf 3 0 1 0
Dckr 1b 4 1 1 1 Pske dh 3 0 1 1
Blsr 2b 4 0 1 1 Trmn c 4 0 2 0
Smith dh 4 0 0 0 Rose rf 4 0 0 0
Totals 37 4 9 2 Totals 32 1 8 1
Miners 000 100 030 —4
Oilers 010 000 000 —1
2B — Locher, Meyer, Decker, Sanford, Paschke. SH — Jones, Zarate. SB — Jones. CS — Senzel. E — Thurman. LOB — Miners 9, Oilers 8. DP — Oilers 1, Miners 1.
IP H R ER BB SO
Miners
Stubblefield, W 8 7 1 1 2 3
Arobio, S 1 1 0 0 0 0
Oilers
DeVrieze 6 5 1 1 1 5
Torrey, L 1 2-3 2 3 0 2 1
Flemming 1 1-3 2 0 0 0 2
PB — Thurman. T — 2:26.
