BUCS vs. MINERS
WHEW: Chase for pennant still on after Hood atones for bungle with homer to defeat Miners.
Dustin Hood wanted to hide, but there was nowhere to go.
The Anchorage Bucs' second baseman had just dropped a lazy pop-up, a ball he's caught a hundred times before, and he wanted to be anywhere other than Mulcahy Stadium.
The crucial error extended the fifth inning and helped the Mat-Su Miners score the tying run, and for a moment, seriously damaged the Bucs' hopes of winning the Alaska Baseball League pennant.
The Bucs are in a dogfight with the league-leading Peninsula Oilers for the ABL title heading into the final week of the regular season. Every play is magnified in a pennant race, especially mistakes on seemingly easy pop-ups.
It didn't help that Hood entered Sunday night's game hitting just .222. Now, he was making horrendous blunders in the field.
"I think that was the first fly ball I've ever dropped in my life," Hood said. "I felt so bad."
But this story ended happily for Hood. In his next at-bat, the determined infielder atoned for his mistake by crushing a three-run home run that lifted the Bucs to a 7-4 victory.
It was his first home run in 101 plate appearances this summer. Hood said he wasn't trying to hit the ball out of the park, but he swung the bat with a little extra motivation after nearly giving the game away.
"I was thinking sacrifice fly, but he left (the pitch) up and in, and I just turned on it," Hood said. "I wasn't trying to do it. I was trying to hit a fly ball."
The winning home run capped a wild and emotional day for the Bucs, who learned minutes before the game that the Oilers had split Sunday's doubleheader with the Fairbanks Goldpanners after rallying from a 4-1 deficit in the ninth inning of the second game.
A half-hour later, they were trailing the Miners 2-0 in the first inning and facing arguably the nastiest pitcher in the league in Chris Wietlispach. The Mat-Su right-hander entered the game having allowed just two earned runs in 37 1/3 innings.
But the Bucs battled back behind key defensive plays and timely hitting. First baseman Jason Castro scooped a short hop to complete a double play and get the Bucs out of the first without another run scoring. And in the second inning, left fielder Kevin Koski gunned down a base runner at the plate to complete a inning-ending double play.
Then the Bucs roughed up the previously untouchable Wietlispach. Robert Taylor lined an RBI single in the first inning, Koski lofted a sacrifice fly in the second and Ike Davis launched a two-run home run in the third.
Leading 4-2, the Bucs were cruising behind starter Chris Stansbury, who settled down nicely after allowing four straight hits to open the game. It was the calm before the storm because disaster soon struck when Hood dropped a sure out and allowed Donald Brown to score all the way from second base.
"The guy hit it off the end of the bat and it had some sideways spin on it," he said. "When it was hit off the bat, I said, 'This isn't a normal fly ball.' I just didn't feel right about it."
After dropping the ball, Hood pounded his chest as to say "my bad" to Stansbury. The next batter, Paul Gran, then stroked a triple to deep centerfield to tie the game at 4-4.
The Bucs should have been out of the inning, but instead they were in a tied game and fighting to stay a half-game back of the first-place Oilers.
"What really made it worse was the next guy came up and tied the game with one swing of the bat," Hood said. "Luckily, I made up for it on the plate."
The Miners were eliminated from pennant contention with Sunday's loss, dropping them four games back with four games to play. Mat-Su hosts the Bucs at 6 tonight in Palmer.
The Bucs have five games remaining, including one with last-place Athletes in Action on Tuesday, before wrapping up the ABL season with a three-game series against the Oilers in Kenai starting Wednesday.
The Oilers have only those three games with the Bucs left, so it's likely that series will determine the ABL pennant. The Bucs lead the season series with Peninsula 3-1 and have two games in hand.
"As long as we take care of our business, we control our destiny," Hood said.
Daily News reporter Van Williams can be reached at vwilliams@adn.com.
ABL STANDINGS
ALASKA BASEBALL LEAGUE
W L Pct. GB Overall
Oilers 20 11 .645 -- 28-14
Bucs 19 11 .633 1/2 25-14
Miners 16 15 .516 4 21-16
Glacier Pilots 14 15 .482 5 21-16
Goldpanners 13 16 .448 7 18-19
Fire 9 22 .290 11 11-23
RESULTS AND SCHEDULE
Sunday's Results
Fairbanks Goldpanners 7, Peninsula Oilers 0
Peninsula Oilers 5, Fairbanks Goldpanners 4
Anchorage Glacier Pilots 5, Athletes in Action Fire 1
Anchorage Bucs 7, Mat-Su Miners 4
Today's Games
Peninsula Oilers at Fairbanks Goldpanners 6 p.m.
AIA Fire at Glacier Pilots, 7 p.m.
Anchorage Bucs at Mat-Su Miners, 6 p.m.
Tuesday's Games
Glacier Pilots at Fairbanks Goldpanners, 6 p.m.
Athletes in Action at Anchorage Bucs, 7 p.m.
