The Peninsula Oilers picked up a timely 4-0 win Wednesday night over the Anchorage Bucs in Alaska Baseball League play.
With one game to go before a pair of exhibition contests and the ABL All-Star break, the Oilers are 11-17 in the standings, six games behind the league-leading Mat-Su Miners (18-12), and a half game back of the Chugiak Chinooks.
Raymond Kerr dominated from the mound Wednesday evening with a scoreless five-inning appearance, giving up just two hits and two walks while striking out five, lowering his ABL-best ERA to a stingy 0.97. Kerr is now 3-1 with the win.
Caleb Hicks and Trent Paddon combined to pitch four scoreless innings in relief. Hicks gave up two hits with four strikeouts in three frames, while Paddon closed out the final inning with two whiffs.
Jeremy Conant belted out his first home run of the season with a solo shot in the fifth, helping him to finish 2 for 3 on the day.
Peninsula tacked on runs in the third, fourth, fifth and eighth innings, starting with a groundout into fielder’s choice by Nathan Webb, which put out Kellen Strahm at home, but the throw back to second to get Webb allowed Matthew Acosta to score the game’s first run.
Conant put the Oilers up 2-0 on his one-out homer in the fourth, then Acosta scored in the next frame on a fielder’s choice grounder by Thomas Ruddy.
The final run in the eighth came on another fielder’s choice ball, this one at the bat of Ryan Smith, which brought home Ruddy for a four-run lead.
