Dazzling pitching ruled the day for the Peninsula Oilers as they escaped with a 2-0 win Thursday night over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots at Mulcahy Stadium.
The supreme defensive gem allowed the teams to head home just over two hours after opening pitch.
Noah Owen twirled four scoreless innings of three-hit ball for the Oilers, whiffing two with zero walks in a tight performance. It was the third straight scoreless outing for the University of San Diego freshman.
Ryan Silva (2-2) ended up with the win after pitching three innings of scoreless relief, giving up two hits with three strikeouts. Tevin Murray wiggled his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning after giving up two hits and a hit-by-pitch, and Calvin Farris recorded his first save of the summer with a trouble-free ninth inning.
Nevertheless, the Oilers (18-15) didn’t gain any ground in their third contest of a 10-game road trip that culminates after the ABL All-Star break. The battle for the Alaska Baseball League lead still stands at three games behind the Mat-Su Miners (21-12), who beat the Anchorage Bucs 2-1 Thursday.
The Oilers will meet the Pilots again Saturday at 4 p.m., but not before a 1 p.m. matinee contest today against the Mat-Su Miners at Palmer’s Hermon Brothers Field, a crucial clash between the top two teams in the ABL.
A day after collecting a combined five base hits over 15 innings of a doubleheader, the Oilers bats again failed to break out in a four-hit performance, but the pitching support helped in the win.
Ryan Koch, Chad Bible, Brian Leonhardt and John Mackay all provided hits, with Mackay posting the highlight with a second-inning double.
Koch put the Oilers ahead in the first inning with a sacrifice fly that scored Ryan Novis. Novis was hit by a pitch to get on base and moved to third on a Chad Bible single.
The Oilers brought in an insurance run in the third starting with a leadoff walk by Zack Zalesky, who scored on a sacrifice bunt by Ryan Novis.
The Pilots threatened in the bottom of the eighth, loading the bases on a hit-by-pitch to Emilio Nogales and consecutive singles by Dominic Foscalina and Jordan Arruda, but the Oilers got out of the jam when Nogales was tagged out at third and Ryon Knowles grounded out to Murray the pitcher.
Foscalina and Knowles each finished the night with two hits for Anchorage.
