Peninsula closes in on Alaska baseball crown

The Mat-Su Miners moved one rung up the standings and kept alive faint hopes of capturing a third straight ABL crown.

And the Anchorage Bucs saw their prospects of a title dim.

Despite losing 5-2 to Mat-Su at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer on Tuesday night, the league-leading Oilers own a three-game lead on the Miners in the final week of the season.

And AIA's 7-6 road win over the Bucs at Mulcahy Stadium not only dropped the Bucs 3 1/2 games behind the Oilers, but it helped the Miners leapfrog the Bucs and move into second place.

The upshot of all that: The Oilers' magic number for winning the league is two over both the Miners and Bucs.

That means any combination of Oilers wins and Miners losses that equals two -- and that formula holds the same for Oilers wins and Bucs losses -- earns the Kenai-based Oilers the league championship.

In the Valley, the Miners turned to what is known in the game as Johnny Wholestaff -- a number of pitchers each working short stints instead of a starter trying to go deep into the game -- to stymie the Oilers.

David Gibson (two innings), Ben Graff (two innings), Colin Cloud (1 1/3), Brendan Lobban (2 2/3) and Mark Anderson (one inning) combined to scatter 10 hits and survive eight walks. They managed that by holding Peninsula to just two hits in its 14 at bats with runners in scoring position.

Miners right fielder Michael Gerlach, who entered the evening hitting just .228 with four RBIs in 57 at bats, went 3 for 4 and drove in three runs. He opened the scoring with an RBI single in the fourth inning and contributed a two-run single in the three-run sixth inning, when the Miners pushed their lead to 4-1.

Gerlach also ended the game with a sliding catch with two Oilers on base. Wesley Jones furnished two hits for Mat-Su and scored twice.

Peninsula's Greg Anderson went 2 for 2 with two walks, two runs scored and an RBI.

The Bucs were seemingly cruising along with a 4-0 lead in the sixth inning when things unraveled. They owned that lead courtesy of a third-inning grand slam from Ryan Palermo, who entered hitting just .191 with only four extra-base hits -- all doubles -- in 115 at bats.

But Bucs starter Matt Sims faltered in the sixth. With the bases loaded and one out, he hit Chris Talley to mark his 11th hit batter in 43 2/3 innings and then walked in a run. Bryant Hernandez entered in relief, but proved to be more gas on the fire. He walked in a run, surrendered a two-run double to Colby Braddock and then allowed a two-run single to J.J. Turbin, and suddenly the Fire led 7-4.

The Bucs closed the gap to 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh when Logan Davis scored from third on a wild pitch and Landon Anderson, who began the play on second base, also scored on the same play, courtesy of a throwing error.

AIA reliever Michael White came in to stop the Bucs' rally on one pitch and finished the game to earn the save. He went 2 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out three.

ABL Leaders

Batting

Average (minimum 2.7 plate appearances per team game) -- 1) Mike Miller, Oilers, .388; 2) Brady Hohl, Pilots, .327; 3) Troy Channing, Oilers, .317; 4) Matthew Harjung, Bucs, .313; 5) Jake Valdez, Bucs, .301; 6) Aaron Judge, Pilots, .300; 7) Logan Davis, Bucs, .296; 8) Stephen Branca, Miners, .290; 9) Clayton Eslick, Pilots, .289; 10) Ryan Ford, Miners, .282.

Runs -- 1) Mike Miller, Oilers, 20; 2) Patrick Wisdom, Oilers, 18; 3) tie, Brady Hohl, Pilots; Aaron Judge, Pilots; Tanner Rust, Oilers; Matt Vinson, Pilots, 16.

Hits -- 1) Mike Miller, Oilers, 40; 2) Brady Hohl, Pilots, 35; 3) tie -- Troy Channing, Oilers; Chris Mallory, Oilers, 33.

Doubles -- 1) tie, Troy Channing, Oilers; Aaron Judge, Pilots; Mike Miller, Oilers, 8.

Triples -- 1) tie, Stephen Branca, Miners; Boomer Collins, Bucs; Aaron Judge, Pilots; Mike Miller, Oilers; Nick Rosso, Miners, 2.

Home Runs -- 1) tie, Cael Brockmeyer, Pilots; 2) Troy Channing, Oilers; 3) Patrick Wisdom, Oilers, 4.

RBIs -- 1) Patrick Wisdom, Oilers, 21; 2) tie, Troy Channing, Oilers; Tanner Rust, Oilers, 16.

Stolen Bases -- 1) Dominick Francia, Miners, 18; 2) Brady Hohl, Pilots, 13; 3) tie, Boomer Collins, Bucs; Ryan Ford, Miners; Matt Vinson, Pilots, 8.

Team Average -- 1) Miners, .252; 2) Oilers, .249; 3) Pilots, .243; 4) Bucs, .220; Fire, .214.

Pitching

Earned Run Average (Min. .8 innings pitched per team game) -- 1) John Maciel, Oilers, 0.81; 2) Jordan Mills, Oilers, 1.00; 3) Mark Anderson, Miners, 1.08; 4) Christian Belleque, Pilots, 1.72; 5) Tyler Linehan, Pilots, 1.99; 6) J.D. Salles, Oilers, 2.33; 7) Charlie Gillies, Fire; 8) Gabriel Asakura, Oilers, 2.54; 9) David Gibson, Miners, 2.61; 10) Andrew Work, Fire, 2.68.

Appearances -- 1) tie, Reese McGraw, Oilers; Mark Winkelman, Oilers, 13; 3) tie, Trevor Bayless, Pilots; Tyler Blum, Oilers; Ismael Castro, Pilots; James Mannara, 12.

Innings pitched -- 1) Charlie Gillies, Fire, 46 23; 2) Tyler Linehan, Pilots, 40 23; 3) Andrew Work, Fire, 40 13.

Strike outs -- 1) Charlie Gillies, Fire, 42; 2) Tyler Linehan, Pilots, 36; 3) Braden Shipley, Bucs, 27.

Saves -- 1) Trevor Bayless, Pilots, 6; 2) Reese McGraw, Oilers, 4; 3) tie, Brandon Hedrick, Miners; Ben Heller, Fire, 3.

Wins -- 1) tie, Conner Kendrick, Bucs; Jordan Mills, Oilers, 4; 3) eight players with 3.

Team ERA -- 1) Oilers, 2.04; 2) Bucs, 2.96; 3) Miners, 3.60; 4) Fire, 3.66; 5) Pilots, 3.66.