FRIDAY'S RESULTS
• Miners 9, Pilots 7
• Chinooks 12, Oilers 10
• Goldpanners 7, Everett 0
SATURDAY'S GAMES
• Everett at Bucs (non-league), 4 p.m., Mulcahy Stadium
• Midnight Suns at Goldpanners, 7 p.m., Growden Park
• Chinooks at Glacier Pilots, 10 p.m., Mulcahy Stadium
SUNDAY'S GAMES
• Miners at Bucs, 2 p.m., Mulcahy Stadium
• Everett at Oilers, 2 p.m., Seymour Park
• Midnight Suns at Goldpanners, 7 p.m., Growden Park
WORTH NOTING
A rough road trip continued Friday for the Peninsula Oilers, who lost for a third straight time, this time falling to the Chinooks 12-10 in Chugiak. But the Oilers remained atop the league standings with a 7-4 record. The Chinooks and Glacier Pilots are tied for second at 3-3.
The Chinooks, who banged out 14 hits, warded off a last-inning comeback by the Oilers, who scored three runs and had the potential tying run at the plate with two out. A popup to the catcher ended the threat.
In Anchorage, the Mat-Su Miners scored twice in the eighth inning to secure a 9-7 win over the Pilots in a back-and-forth game. Nash Knight's three-hit, three-RBI night for the Miners (3-5 in league play) included a run-scoring double in the pivotal inning.
The Pilots squandered leads of 4-0 and 5-3 and didn't put a runner on base in the final three innings.
In Fairbanks, Jack Vander Linden, a 6-foot-5 righthander from Georgetown, threw eight shutout innings to lead the Goldpanners to a 7-0 nonleague win over the Everett (Wash.) Merchants. Vander Linden struck out seven, scattered three hits and walked two.
In the 107th Midnight Sun Game in Fairbanks on Thursday night -- first pitch, 10:30 p.m. -- Goldpanners right fielder Casey Munoz doubled twice and laced a two-run single in the seventh inning to spearhead a 7-5 non-league victory over Everett.
The game, played entirely in natural light, like always, drew an overflow crowd to Growden Park on a brilliantly sunny evening.
The Pilots play their version of a solstice game at 10 p.m. Saturday against the Mat-Su Miners. If they play nine innings at a decent pace, they could finish earlier than they did in a 21-inning game against the Peninsula Oilers that started at 7 p.m. Wednesday and ended about 51/2 hours later, shortly before 1 a.m.
