The bats of the Peninsula Oilers came alive, but the pitching and defense failed to secure a win Sunday in a 10-7 loss to the host Chugiak Chinooks in Alaska Baseball League play.
The Oilers have now won two times in their last 12 attempts in league play to drop to 14-18 in the ABL, four games behind the Anchorage Bucs, who lead the American League with an 18-14 record.
The Oilers had a solid day at the plate, with 10 hits and seven runs. Eight of the 10 hits were for extra bases.
Peninsula led 4-1 entering the bottom of the fourth inning and 6-4 entering the bottom of the sixth inning, but both times the pitching and defense didn’t hold up. Just five of the Chinooks’ 10 runs were earned.
Matt Allen got the start for the Oilers and went four innings, allowing four earned runs on five hits.
Allen gave up the three runs in the bottom of the fourth that allowed the Chinooks to tie. The runs were made possible by center fielder James Fowlkes losing a fly ball in the white sky with two outs.
Brandon VanStone was tagged with the loss after giving up four runs in the sixth to allow the Chinooks to take an 8-6 lead they would not relinquish. Just one of the four runs given up by VanStone was earned.
Jordan Kron finished by giving up two unearned runs, while Sean Michel pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
At the plate, Mark Sanchez nearly hit for the cycle, getting a single, triple and home run to go with a run and two RBIs.
Fowlkes was 2 for 3 with two triples, two runs and an RBI, while Brian Ruhm, Alex Seifert and Blake Wilfong had doubles, and Brent Diaz added a triple.
The Oilers remain on the road for a 6 p.m. game against the Chinooks today.
Sunday
Chinooks 10, Oilers 7
Oilers AB R H BI Chnks AB R H BI
Ruhm rf 5 1 1 0 Cmwl 3b 5 0 0 1
Sfrt 3b 5 1 1 1 Frto 2b 5 0 1 0
Sncz dh 5 1 3 2 Brnk cf 5 1 3 1
Diaz lf 3 1 1 0 Bbst rf 4 3 2 0
Arwd 1b 4 0 0 0 Mrtn lf 3 1 0 0
Flks cf 3 2 2 1 Ptr dh 3 2 1 2
Wlfg c 4 1 1 1 Bxwl c 3 2 2 2
Rvra 2b 4 0 0 0 Hnks ss 3 1 1 1
Glsy ss 4 0 1 1 Wks 1b 4 0 2 2
Totals 37 7 10 6 Totals 35 10 12 9
Peninsula 012 102 100 —7
Chugiak 100 304 200 —10
2B — Ruhm, Seifert, Wilfong, Baranek, Potter, Hanks. 3B — Sanchez, Diaz, Fowlkes 2. HR — Sanchez, Baranek. SF — Fowlkes, Potter. CS — Baranek. E — Ruhm, Seifert, Arrowood 2, Rivera, Furuto, Page. LOB — Oilers 5, Chinooks 6.
IP H R ER BB SO
Oilers
Allen 4 5 4 4 1 3
VanStone, L 1 1-3 3 4 1 2 1
Kron 1 2-3 2 2 0 1 1
Michel 1 2 0 0 0 1
Chinooks
Page 5 1-3 9 6 5 1 7
Karkenny, W 1 2-3 1 1 1 0 0
Fairchild, S 2 0 0 0 0 6
PB — Wilfong.
