Hits were hard to come by for the Peninsula Oilers on Tuesday night, but not as rare as runs.
The absence of sustainable offense by the Oilers led to a doubleheader sweep at the hands of the Anchorage Bucs in Alaska Baseball League action at Coral Seymour Memorial Park.
The pair of seven-inning losses dropped the Oilers (13-15) to two games behind the Bucs (15-13). The two sides were tied for the American League lead entering the day.
If the Oilers don’t figure out how to score on the Anchorage Bucs soon, things may yet go from bad to worse, as the two sides see each other thrice more before the weekend, with 7 p.m. games today and Thursday, and a 6 p.m. game Friday at Coral Seymour. The Oilers then travel to Mulcahy Field in Anchorage on Saturday for their seventh game in six days against the Bucs.
“Pitching was fine today, we just didn’t get anything going,” said Oilers coach Kevin Griffin. “Now we got to win two more to tie it up.”
Aaron Soto and Jim Voyles combined for 14 innings of shutout pitching for the Bucs, giving up five total hits together.
In the first game, Voyles (4-0) threw a complete game shutout to earn the win on the mound, giving up two hits and one walk while striking out five in a strong outing.
“I was throwing all my pitches for strikes,” Voyles said. “I felt a little out of whack in the first inning, but then I managed to settle down.”
With the win, the Florida State sophomore lowered his season ERA to 0.77, second in the ABL among qualified pitchers.
“I’ve been working on my cutter,” Voyles added. “I think that was working well today.”
In the second game, Soto (5-1) held the Oilers at bay with three hits while giving up no walks and striking out three. Soto said he was able to deliver his fastball to varying spots around the strike zone without giving up too many balls.
“We just stayed down in the zone, made the right pitches with the right counts, and we didn’t fall behind many hitters,” Soto said. “I spiraled my fastball really well, my breaking ball was on and so was my changeup.”
The University of Tennessee freshman is ranked sixth in the ABL this year in ERA with a 1.03.
Cory Abbott took the loss for the Oilers, giving up an earned run on six hits, even while walking no one and striking out two. In the first contest, Josh Medeles took the loss with 5 2-3 innings of work, giving up no earned runs on three hits and three walks while recording two strikeouts.
In the opening game of the evening, the lone run came courtesy of Medeles, who walked Zane Gurwitz with the bases loaded to score Grant Palmer.
That was all the Bucs needed, as the Anchorage squad held tough on defense to seal the victory.
The Oilers had their chances to score, but on more than one occasion, urgency cost the home team. In the bottom of the fifth, Galusky had a two-out single that was wasted when he was subsequently caught stealing second.
The next frame saw Boeke crack a grounder to left field that slipped through the legs of Bucs third baseman McCarthy Tatum, but seeing a scoring opportunity, Boeke made the dash to second base, only to just be tagged out to end the inning.
Griffin said he encourages stolen bases, no matter the situation, if it will help the team score.
“The steal was fine, (Galusky) just didn’t get a good jump,” Griffin said. “If we get those two guys on second, that would’ve helped a lot, but we still got to hit.”
In the top of the second, Alex Seifert executed a spectacular throw from third to first base, scooping up a grounder from Tatum and spiraling back around to make the throw to first baseman J.D. Arrowood.
In the second game, a single by Justin Jacobs at the top the fifth allowed Zane Gurwitz to make it home from second base for a 1-0 Bucs lead. Gurwitz had gotten on base on a throwing error by shortstop Jimmy Galusky. The Oilers did manage to keep away another baserunner on a catch by Arrowood, who had to make the low stretch to grab the throw by Seifert.
The Bucs tacked on another run in the sixth inning when Stephen Trosclair scored on a ground-ball single by Taylor Jones.
Looking to stifle the damage and get one more crack at making a comeback, it was Galusky connecting with Arrowood for a double play at the top of the seventh, setting up the Oilers for one last chance at bat. However, three consecutive retirements sealed the Oilers’ fate.
Among the few highlights of the night for the Oilers included a pair of well-executed defensive plays in the fourth frame. Seifert followed up a sliding catch by center fielder James Fowlkes that recorded the second out with a leaping snag on a bouncing grounder by Taylor Jones that allowed him to make the successful throw to first base to end the inning.
Tuesday
1st game
Bucs 1, Oilers 0
Bucs AB R H BI Oilers AB R H BI
Mnty ss 4 0 1 0 Olvr lf 2 0 0 0
Plmr lf 4 1 1 0 Bke ss 2 0 0 0
Trsc 1b 3 0 1 0 Ruhm rf 3 0 0 0
Cnrd dh 3 0 1 0 Diaz c 3 0 0 0
Grwt cf 1 0 0 1 Arwd 1b 3 0 0 0
Btlr rf 2 0 0 0 Fwlk cf 2 0 1 0
Ttm 3b 3 0 0 0 Wshm dh 2 0 0 0
Wrrn c 3 0 0 0 Glky 2b 2 0 1 0
Stfn 2b 3 0 1 0 Sfrt 3b 2 0 0 0
Totals 26 1 5 1 Totals 21 0 2 0
Bucs 100 000 0 —1
Oilers 000 000 0 —0
SH — Boeke (0). CS — Galusky (1). E — Tatum 2 (4), Galusky (4). LOB — Bucs 7, Oilers 2.
IP H R ER BB SO
Bucs
Voyles, W 7.0 2 0 0 1 5
Oilers
Medeles, L 5.2 3 1 0 3 2
Ennis 1.1 2 0 0 0 2
T — 1:33.
2nd game
Bucs 2, Oilers 0
Mnty ss 4 0 1 0 Olvr lf 3 0 0 0
Plmr 3b 4 0 0 0 Fwlk cf 3 0 1 0
Plzk 3b 0 0 0 0 Ruhm rf 3 0 1 0
Trsc 2b 3 1 2 0 Diaz dh 3 0 0 0
Cnrd dh 3 0 0 0 Arwd 1b 3 0 0 0
Jnes 1b 3 0 1 1 Glky ss 2 0 0 0
Grwt cf 3 1 2 0 Wshm 2b 2 0 0 0
Brwn lf 2 0 0 0 Wlfg c 2 0 0 0
Jcbs rf 3 0 2 1 Sfrt 3b 2 0 1 0
Bnls c 2 0 0 0 —- — — — —
Totals 27 2 8 2 Totals 23 0 3 0
Bucs 000 011 0 —2
Oilers 000 000 0 —0
SB — Jacobs (3), Ruhm (10). CS — Montoya (1). E — Galusky (5), Washam (7). LOB — Bucs 6, Oilers 2.
IP H R ER BB SO
Bucs
Soto, W 7.0 3 0 0 0 3
Oilers
Abbott, L 5.2 6 2 1 0 2
Holden 1.1 2 0 0 1 1
T — 1:34.
