Oilers edge Miners again to lead ABL

  • By Staff Report
  • Thursday, June 14, 2018 12:13am
  • Sports

Michael Yourg brought in the winning run on a broken-bat single Wednesday night to lead the Peninsula Oilers to a 3-2 win over the Mat-Su Miners in Alaska Baseball League play.

In the team’s first extra-inning affair of the young season, Yourg’s two-out knock in the top of the 10th inning at Palmer’s Hermon Brothers Field was preceded by two Oilers being hit by a pitch by Miners relievers Kyle King and Sean Hughes.

The win lifted the Oilers to the top of the ABL standings at 6-2 to start the season, while the two-time defending champion Miners dropped to 3-5 overall.

Andrew Lopez preserved the victory and picked up the win by inducing a double play by Drew Swift in the bottom of the frame to end the game. Lopez struck out two in his nine-out scoreless appearance, giving up two hits and a walk. Lopez finished with 55 pitches thrown.

Mike Lopez had a strong six-inning start for the Oilers, giving up just three hits, whiffing one and issuing no walks, and Calvin Farris tossed a perfect inning in relief.

Ryan Koch led off the 10th with a hit-by-pitch, and Bryan Woo, making his ABL debut, reached on a fielder choice and was followed two batters later by a hit pitch to Ryan Novis.

From there, Yourg lifted a broken-bat single into left field to bring Woo in to score from second and put the Oilers up 3-2. Woo just got in under the tag of Miners catcher Aaron Walters with a deft maneuver.

“I was busting my butt trying to reach home plate, and I was going to run through the stop sign,” Woo said in a postgame radio interview on 1140 AM. “I saw the throw, and thought I’ve got to get inside … it was a bang-bang play and I just made it.”

Danny Wright lined a one-out single into the outfield to get on base for the Miners in the bottom of the 10th, but Swift eliminated the threat with a groundout double play.

Before the late drama, Spencer Henson put the Miners up 2-0 in the third inning with a two-run triple.

The Oilers clawed back in the top of the sixth, getting a run on a groundout by Bryce Begell, then tied it up on a throwing error by the third baseman that allowed Paul Kunst to score on a ball put in play by Berkey.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Miners could not convert a one-out double by Tyler Bosetti into a run, forcing the game into extras.

Paul Kunst, Evan Berkey, Grant Wood, Novis and Yourg all finished with a base hit for the Oilers, which equaled the five team hits the Miners put up.

A night after stranding 13 men on base, the Oilers only left three on Wednesday.

The Oilers continue their eight-game road trip tonight with a 7 p.m. game against the Anchorage Glacier Pilots at Mulcahy Stadium to open another two-game set.

More in Sports

TEASE
NLC softball: Kodiak wins title; Kenai earns 1st state berth

The Kodiak softball team defeated Kenai Central 18-3 in three innings Saturday… Continue reading

tease
Southcentral Conference baseball: Kodiak tops Palmer for title; Kenai defeats SoHi for 3rd

The Kodiak baseball team won the Southcentral Conference title with a 14-4… Continue reading

tease
Southcentral Conference baseball: Kodiak, Palmer to play for title

Top seed Kodiak and No. 3 seed Palmer won twice Friday to… Continue reading

tease
NLC softball: Kodiak clinches spot in final, awaits Homer-Kenai winner

In Friday play at the Northern Lights Conference softball tournament in Homer,… Continue reading

tease
It’s Kenai girls vs. SoHi; SoHi boys vs. Juneau for Division II state soccer titles

The Kenai Central and Soldotna girls will play for the Division II… Continue reading

TEASE
Kenai, Kodiak softball move to NLC semifinal

The Kenai Central and Kodiak softball teams reached the semifinal at the… Continue reading

tease
Kenai, SoHi girls soccer; SoHi boys move to Division II semifinals

The Kenai Central and Soldotna girls and Soldotna boys advanced to the… Continue reading

Most Read