After a Saturday deluge washed out all Alaska Baseball League action, the Peninsula Oilers came out swinging Sunday against the Chugiak Chinooks in an Alaska Baseball League doubleheader.
The only problem was, the Fish swung back.
The Oilers were swept in a pair of seven-inning ABL contests, dropping the first game 4-3 and the second 7-6 to the Chinooks, the only team that sat below Peninsula entering the day. With the two wins, the Chinooks (12-16) overtook the Oilers (9-16) in the standings.
The Oilers remained seven games behind the league-leading Anchorage Bucs and Mat-Su Miners, who are tied atop the standings. The Miners were also swept in a doubleheader Sunday, losing a twin bill to the Anchorage Glacier Pilots.
In the opening game, the Chinooks scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 3-1 lead, but the Oilers tied it up in the top of the fifth thanks to a run-scoring groundout by Jeremy Conant.
After Aaron Shackelford blasted a one-out triple in the bottom of the fifth, Brandon Michie brought him home on a sacrifice fly, giving the Chinooks a 4-3 edge.
From there, Scott Smith and Aidan Stout pitched two scoreless innings in relief, giving up one combined hit and walk. Robert Winslow earned the win with five innings of four-hit ball, giving up just one earned run on four walks while striking out two.
Preston Plovanich was credited with the loss for the Oilers, throwing 1 2-3 innings of relief and giving up a run on two hits, striking out one. Devin Hayes started for Peninsula and lasted 4 1-3 frames, striking out six in a four-hit showing while walking three.
The Oilers got hits from five different players, highlighted by a double by Mikey Hoehner.
In the nightcap, the Oilers took a 4-0 lead by the top of the third inning, thanks to a pair of throwing errors in the top of the first that scored two runs, but Chugiak rallied back with a four-run fourth inning attack.
Levi Gilcrease began the rally with a two-out double in the third, which helped him score on an Oilers error in the next at-bat. Micah Pries scored when Oilers starter Kyle Lucke forced in a run on a bases-loaded walk.
Lucke finished the day with five runs (two earned) on two hits and three walks, while striking out three.
Chugiak took the lead with an RBI single by Pries and a two-run single by Jeremy Johnson, putting the Chinooks up 5-4.
The Oilers staged a last-gasp comeback in the top of the seventh, loading the bases with one out on a John Thomas walk. Matt Acosta then singled in a run and Strahm scored on a passed ball, but Benjamin Wagner was called out on a dropped third strike to end the game.
The Oilers continue their road trip today with a 7 p.m. clash against the Anchorage Bucs at Mulcahy Stadium.
