Anchorage Daily News

If the Anchorage Glacier Pilots hold on to win the Alaska Baseball League pennant, chances are they'll look back on Thursday's victory as one of the reasons why.

The Pilots scored three runs over the final two innings to rally for 6-5 win over the second-place Mat-Su Miners at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.

Anchorage's Tony Asaro and Jonathon Jones drove in runs in the eighth inning and Bryan Haar added a sacrifice fly to supply a much-needed insurance run in the ninth.

With the win, the Pilots increased their lead over the Miners to 4 1/2 games entering the final week of the season. The Peninsula Oilers, like the Miners, started the evening 3 1/2 games back and played in the late game Thursday.

The Pilots had taken leads of 1-0 and 3-1, but each time the Miners answered in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game.

Finally, in the seventh inning Mat-Su broke through for its first lead on D.J. Gentile's RBI triple.

It didn't last, though.

The Pilots roared back with two runs in the eighth and another in the ninth inning.

It proved to be just enough as the Miners nearly forced extra innings by scoring one run and stranding a runner on second base before Pilots closer Eric Best ended the game on a strikeout to collect his 10th save of the summer.

Pilots relief pitcher Zachary Quate earned the win with 2 2/3 innings of work.

Haar finished 2 for 3 with the a pair of RBIs, including the game-winner. Teammates Luke Yoder, Carl Uhl, and Joseph Terdoslavich each had two hits as the Pilots banged out 11 hits.

Troy Scott went 3 for 5 with two runs and an RBI for the Miners. Relief pitcher Charles Ruiz took the loss after allowing five hits and three runs (two earned) in two innings.

Of the 23 hits Thursday, nine went for extra bases.

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