The Peninsula Oilers defeated the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks 9-0 on Wednesday at Lee Jordan Field in Chugiak in Alaska Baseball League play.
The Oilers were able to practice damage control at the end of an eight-game, seven-day road trip.
Peninsula lost the first six games of the road trip, scoring more than three runs in a game just once.
The Oilers were able to finish strong, though, defeating the Anchorage Glacier Pilots 7-1 on Tuesday before the Wednesday victory.
The finish to the road trip at least gives the Oilers a path to finishing second in the ABL and hosting a first-round playoff series.
The Anchorage Bucs lead the league at 21-10, while the Mat-Su Miners are two games behind at 20-13. The Oilers are three games behind the Miners at 18-17. The Pilots are three games behind the Oilers at 13-18, while the Chinooks are in last at 10-24.
Peninsula closes the regular season with a five-game home series against the Pilots at Coral Seymour Memorial Park in Kenai. The Oilers are 11-3 at home this season, while the Pilots have struggled on the road.
The series runs from Saturday, July 27, to Wednesday, July 31. All of the games are at 6 p.m., except for the 2 p.m. start Sunday, July 28.
Another advantage to the Oilers, who have two days off headed into the series, is that the Pilots have doubleheaders Thursday against the Miners and Friday against the Bucs before departing for the Peninsula.
The Miners have three games left against the Bucs, two against the Pilots and two against the Chinooks.
Wednesday against the Chinooks, the Oilers scored three runs in the first inning and cruised to victory behind shutout pitching.
Cameron Teper went the first six innings, giving up four hits while walking two and striking out seven.
Nathan Hoffman, Colby Reynolds and Zach Camp then each worked an inning of relief. Hoffman gave up two hits and struck out two, Reynolds gave up two hits and struck out three, and Camp posted all zeroes.
Frankie Gulko took the loss for the Chinooks, giving up seven runs on nine hits in six innings of work.
Petey Soto, Colin Robson and Braden Smith each contributed two hits to the 12-hit attack of the Oilers. Cole Dawson scored twice for Peninsula, while Cody New had three RBIs.
