The Peninsula Oilers defeated the Anchorage Glacier Pilots 4-1 on Thursday in Alaska Baseball League play at Coral Seymour Memorial Park in Kenai.
Peninsula started a five-game series against the Pilots by improving to 4-2 in the season series against Anchorage. Remaining games are Friday, Saturday and Monday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Pilots came into the game tied for first place with the Mat-Su Miners, but the Oilers knocked Anchorage out of first place.
The Miners were idle Thursday and are at 17-13, while the Glacier Pilots are now a half game back at 17-14. The Anchorage Bucs defeated the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks on Thursday to improve to 18-16 and move a single game in back of the Miners.
The Oilers are now 13-16, trailing the Miners by 3.5 games, while the Chinooks are at 12-18 and are five games off the pace.
Ty Correa, who checks in at 6-foot-9, 230 pounds and leads the ABL in ERA, picked up the victory for the Oilers on Thursday. Correa kept the Pilots scoreless for five innings, giving up six hits while striking out seven. The Pilots were able to get runners in scoring position each inning against Correa, but were not able to cash in.
Anchorage left 12 runners on base, compared to four for the Oilers.
Drew Dickson worked the final four innings for the Oilers, giving up a run on two hits while striking out one.
Nathan Barraza took the loss for the Pilots. Barraza went six innings and gave up two runs — one earned — on five hits while striking out three.
The Oilers struck for runs in the second and fourth innings, before Anchorage battled back with a run in the top of the eighth. Peninsula was able to add two insurance runs in the bottom of the eight inning, then Dickson recorded three straight outs in the ninth to clamp down the victory.
Owen McElfatrick was 1 for 3 for the Oilers, while William Grimm was 2 for 4. Both McElfatrick and Grimm had the crucial insurance runs in the eighth.
Leighton Helfrick was 2 for 4 with a double for Peninsula, while Ty Thomas was 1 for 3 with an RBI.
For the Pilots, Garrison Berkley was 2 for 5 with two doubles, Troy Harding was 2 for 5 and Joey Wright was 2 for 2 with a pair of doubles.
