In a week that has seen the Peninsula Oilers baseball club gain a bit of national exposure — probably not the kind they wanted — it’s understandable that the team was looking for a return to normalcy.
Getting back home to Coral Seymour Memorial ballpark on Friday was the first step, and on a picturesque evening on the first big dipnetting day of the summer, the Oilers were hoping to take care of the second step — winning.
Unfortunately, step two did not go as planned, as they ran into a smoke-shooting pitcher.
The Anchorage Glacier Pilots secured a 3-1 Alaska Baseball League win over the Oilers on Friday night, led by right-handed pitcher Justin Dellinger, who clamped down and retired every batter he faced in the final five innings of a complete game.
“I just throw until they tell me I can’t go anymore,” Dellinger said about going the distance. “It worked really nice tonight.”
Saturday night, Anchorage beat the Oilers using offense, as the usually hit-challenged Pilots knocked out 14 hits to grab a 6-5 win at Coral Seymour, scoring a run in each of the first five innings.
A sacrifice fly by Adalberto Carrillo at the top of the eighth proved to be the difference, as Luke Hamblin scored from third to break up a 5-all tie.
On Friday, Dellinger gave up three hits — all in the first four innings — and walked no one and struck out nine.
Step three of the process will be completed Saturday, when Oilers head coach Kevin Griffin returns to the dugout after serving a two-game suspension for his involvement in a late-game brawl Wednesday night against the Anchorage Bucs.
In that game, Bucs coach Mike Grahovac was ejected at the top of the 14th inning for continuing to argue a call at first base. Shortly after leaving the field, Grahovac returned to confront Griffin — who was coaching at third base — and before anyone could intervene, a chest bump turned into a shove, which led to a swing. The altercation was quickly dispersed by players and umpires.
Video taken by Anchorage news station KTUU went viral in the days after and was seen on national social media sites.
The usual penalty for fighting is a three-game ban, but Griffin’s penalty was reduced after an appeal, while Grahovac was given an additional game off for his instigation of the scuffle.
Friday evening, Griffin was out on the field helping with pregame warmups, but left just prior to the contest. Oilers pitching coach Brian Daly and hitting coach Eli Silverman were tasked with managing the team both Thursday and Friday.
“It’s pretty much business as usual,” Daly said. “Other than me coaching third … (Dellinger) just had a good game.”
After shortstop Jordan Washam and left fielder Alex Seifert began the game for the Oilers with consecutive singles, Dellinger gave up just one more hit, a single by Brian Ruhm in the fourth inning.
Apart from that, Dellinger cobbled together seven innings of perfect pitching, using a mix of pitches including his fastball, changeup and slider.
“Honestly, everything was working for me,” Dellinger said. “All my pitches had good command, good movement and that’s all it was.”
The Oilers lone run came on a ground-out to first base by Brent Diaz in the bottom of the fourth, which scored Ruhm.
At the top of the inning, the Pilots started the scoring with a leadoff walk by Jack Anderson, a double from Adalberto Carrillo, and a ground-out from Joe Wainhouse that brought Anderson in to score. Another double, this one from Kevin Viers, brought Carrillo home with two outs.
The home squad managed to keep the Pilots from adding on much more with several defensive plays, including a spectacular high-reaching snag by second-baseman Jimmy Galusky in the top of the seventh that finished with Galusky flipping the ball to first-baseman James Fowlkes, tagging out the previous runner for a double play.
Luke Hamblin scored on a wild pitch in the eighth inning to add an insurance run for the Pilots.
David Diaz took the loss on the mound for the Oilers, putting in seven innings of five-hit ball, walking two and recording eight strikeouts.
“He was consistent,” Daly said. “It was just an off day at the plate.”
Matt Allen took the loss on the mound Saturday for the Oilers, going the opening four innings and giving up four runs on six hits while walking three and striking out seven.
Drake Robison (1-2) picked up his first win of the year for the Pilots, tossing a perfect three innings in relief of Patrick Schnieders. Robison ended with three strikeouts.
At the plate, six Pilots players recorded two hits apiece, with Kyle Watson adding two RBI and Hamblin scoring a pair of runs.
Friday
Pilots 3, Oilers 1
Pilots AB R H BI Oilers AB R H BI
Hmbl cf 3 1 2 0 Wshm ss 4 0 1 0
Nvak c 3 0 0 0 Sfrt lf 4 0 1 0
Adsn lf 3 1 0 0 Bke 3b 3 0 0 0
Crlo 3b 4 1 1 0 Ruhm rf 3 1 1 0
Wnhs dh 4 0 0 1 Diaz dh 3 0 0 1
Vzqz rf 4 0 1 0 Wlfg c 3 0 0 0
Vrs 1b 3 0 1 1 Glky 2b 3 0 0 0
Wtsn ss 3 0 0 0 Wlsn cf 3 0 0 0
Crts 2b 3 0 1 0 Fwks 1b 3 0 0 0
Totals 30 3 6 2 Totals 29 1 3 1
Pilots 000 200 010 —3
Oilers 000 100 000 —1
SH — Novak (0), Boeke (0). SB — Ruhm (7). LOB — Pilots 3, Oilers 2.
IP H R ER BB SO
Pilots
Dellinger, W 9.0 3 1 1 0 9
Oilers
Diaz, L 7.0 5 2 2 2 8
Holden 2.0 1 1 1 0 0
T — 1:49.
Saturday
Pilots 6, Oilers 5
Pilots AB R H BI Oilers AB R H BI
Hbln cf 4 2 2 0 Wshm 2b 3 1 1 0
Mrny rf 4 1 2 0 Sfrt 3b 4 1 1 0
Lbsy dh 3 0 2 1 Olvr 1b 3 0 0 0
Btsl pr 0 0 0 0 Bke dh 2 1 0 0
Crlo 3b 4 0 0 1 Ruhm rf 3 1 1 1
Vrs 1b 5 1 1 0 Diaz c 3 0 0 0
Ttwn c 4 1 1 1 Wlsn lf 3 1 1 3
Lchr lf 5 1 2 0 Glsy ss 4 0 0 0
Crts 2b 4 0 2 0 Flks cf 3 0 0 0
Wtsn ss 4 0 2 2 —- — — — —
Totals 37 6 14 5 Totals 28 5 4 4
Anchorage 111 110 010 —6
Peninsula 200 300 000 —5
2B — Moroney, Troutwine. HR — Wilson. SF — Labosky, Carrillo. S — Moroney, Oliver, Diaz. SB — Locher, Crites, Ruhm. CS — Hamblin, Locher, Boeke. E — Crites, Oliver. LOB — Pilots 13, Oilers 3. DP — Pilots 1.
IP H R ER BB SO
Pilots
Schnieders 6 4 5 5 4 4
Robison, W 3 0 0 0 0 3
Oilers
Allen 4 6 4 3 3 7
Dotson 1 2 1 1 1 0
Kron 1 2 0 0 0 1
Ennis 1 1 0 0 0 0
Michel, L 1 2 1 1 0 0
Abbott 1 1 0 0 1 1
WP — Allen.
