A two-game series between the two division leaders of the Alaska Baseball League ended Wednesday night with a clear winner.
The National League-leading Mat-Su Miners finished off the American League-leading Peninsula Oilers with a resounding 17-1 win at Hermon Brothers Field, pushing the Miners overall season tally to 25-7 while dropping the Oilers to 14-15.
The Miners matched their run total with 17 hits, while the Oilers struggled at the plate with three hits. The Oilers also struggled on the field with four errors.
Following a string of six wins in seven games, the Oilers have now since dropped four straight, including two in a row to the Miners with a combined score of 28-5.
The Oilers and Miners will finish off a scoreless game today at 7 p.m. that was delayed due to rain on Sunday. The game will be resuming with two outs at the top of the sixth inning, Pilots at bat and nobody on base.
After opening the scoring with two runs in the third inning, the Miners really got going in the fourth and fifth innings with eight combined runs. The Miners added a run in the sixth, two in the seventh and four more in the eighth.
Caleb Wood led Mat Su by hitting 3 for 3 — including a triple — with five runs and an RBI. Also, Brick Paskiewicz and Hunter Simmons each went 3 for 5, with Simmons batting in two runs and Paskiewicz three.
Simmons also matched Chris Hall with a home run, the first for both of them this summer. Hall’s three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth ended with the Miners holding a 9-0 lead.
On the mound, Mat Su starter Calvin LeBrun earned the win with six innings of one-hit ball, while striking out nine. LeBrun threw 47 strikes on 67 pitches. Cameron Stanton took the loss for the Oilers with four innings, five hits, three earned runs and four walks while striking out one.
Brent Diaz highlighted the Oilers offense with a leadoff triple at the top of the fifth, eventually scoring on a groundout by Blake Wilfong.
Wednesday
Miners 17, Oilers 1
Oilers AB R H BI Miners AB R H BI
Sfrt 3b 4 0 0 0 Crso cf 3 0 2 2
Olvr 1b 3 0 0 0 Wnhn ph 1 2 1 0
Bke ss 4 0 0 0 Wlfe ss 5 1 2 2
Ruhm rf 4 0 1 0 Pskw rf 5 0 3 3
Diaz c 4 1 1 0 Vzcn cf 0 0 0 0
Wlfg dh 3 0 1 1 Drio dh 5 1 1 1
Glky 2b 3 0 0 0 Nshk 3b 2 2 0 0
Flks cf 3 0 0 0 Fagg ph 2 0 0 0
Wlsn lf 3 0 0 0 Smns 1b 5 2 3 2
— Hall lf 4 2 1 3
— Hnck c 4 2 1 0
— Wood 2b 3 5 3 1
Totals 31 1 3 1 Totals 39 17 17 14
Oilers 000 010 000 —1 3 4
Miners 002 351 24x —17 17 1
HR — Simmons (1), Hall (1). HP — Nishioka (2), Hall (3), Wood 2 (4). SB — Caruso (4), Paskiewicz (4), Wood (2). E — Oliver (5), Diaz (2), Stanton 2 (3), Wolfe (8). LOB — Oilers 4, Miners 9.
Oilers IP H R ER BB SO
Stanton, L 4.0 5 6 3 4 1
Holden 1.0 6 4 4 0 0
Kron 1.0 1 2 2 0 0
Bovy 2.0 5 5 5 2 1
Miners
LeBrun, W 6.0 1 1 1 1 9
Thompson 1.0 1 0 0 0 0
Martin 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
Paskiewicz 1.0 1 0 0 0 0
T — 2:26.
