The Peninsula Oilers cruised past the Chugiak Chinooks 12-2 on Wednesday at Coral Seymour Memorial Park in Kenai, invoking the mercy rule after seven innings.
The Oilers have now started off their 10-game Alaska Baseball League homestand with a pair of victories. Peninsula takes on the Chinooks again today at 6 p.m. at Seymour Park.
The Oilers improve to 10-20 in the league but remain in fifth place and would be out of the playoffs if they were to start today.
The victory started with another solid outing from starter Luke Yacinich, who is now 4-1 with a 2.29 ERA. Yacinich worked six innings and gave up two runs on five hits while walking three and striking out five.
Andre Orselli worked a perfect inning for the Oilers.
On offense, the Oilers feasted on Chinooks starter and loser Brenden Argomaniz, who gave up six runs on four hits. Honus Kindreich gave up four runs — just one earned — in two-thirds of an inning, while Justin Nevells gave up two runs in 1 2-3 innings.
The Chinooks actually took a 2-0 lead in the third inning, but the Oilers erupted for 10 runs in the bottom of the fifth, then finished things off with two runs in the seventh.
The Oilers put up nine hits, with John Olmstead leading the way by going 3 for 5 with five RBIs. Also for the Oilers, Taylor Johnson was 2 for 3 with two runs and two RBIs, Owen Christy had a hit and two runs, and Cole Moore had a hit and two runs.
Trevor Antonson and Garrett Pennington added hits for the Oilers.
