The Peninsula Oilers wrapped up a season-opening, five-game road trip in the Alaska Baseball League with an overpowering 11-4 win Monday night over the Chugiak/Eagle River Chinooks at Lee Jordan Field in Chugiak.
The Chinooks led 3-0 after five innings but the Oilers rallied with five runs in the top of the sixth to take a lead that only grew from there.
The win boosted the Oilers’ 2019 record to 2-3 overall, while the Chinooks dropped to 1-3. After an off day today, the Oilers return for their home opener Wednesday at 7 p.m. against the Chinooks at Coral Seymour Memorial Ballpark.
Monday in Chugiak, the Oilers slugged 18 base hits to the Chinooks’ five. Jaden Fein, Giancarlo Servin, Victor Carlino and Kenai Central grad Paul Steffensen each knocked out three hits to lead the team. Steffensen improved his ABL batting average to .318 through the first five games of his ABL career.
On the mound, Jonathan Carlos started for the Oilers and lasted four innings before being pulled with no outs in the fifth. Carlos gave up three runs (one earned) on one hit and two walks but struck out five.
Jake Adams and Drew Thorpe made relief appearances, with Adams giving up a run on one hit and four walks in two innings, and Thorpe pitching three shutout frames with three hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
The Chinooks struck first in the bottom of the fifth on a triple by Mason Corbett, scoring a run that initially reached on error.
After Adams relieved Carlos on the mound, the Chinooks added an another run on an RBI groundout from Paddy McKermitt, then tacked on another on a single by Haden Keller to grab a 3-0 edge.
The Oilers came back in the top of the sixth, batting around to take the lead. Peninsula started by loading the bases with no outs on three straight singles by Camden Vasquez, Fein and Bobby Goodloe, and Servin came through with a one-out RBI single, then was followed by Calvin Farris’ game-tying two-run single, knotting it up at 3-all.
Servin scored the go-ahead run on a throwing error by the Chinooks to make it 4-3, and Carlino roped an RBI single into right field to add to the lead.
The Oilers piled on in the top of the ninth with three more runs on four hits, including an RBI single by Steffensen and a run-scoring triple by Carlino.
The Oilers had chances to score early in the game, but they fell through. In the top of the fifth, Kenai’s Paul Steffensen doubled to put runners on the corners with one out, but a forceout at home on a hit by Carlino and a popout by Skyler Messinger erased the threat.
