First road trip gives 2 more wins

They weren't long trips–just under an hour to Anchorage and back each night–but the Miners made more great strides in their 2 games in the city.  Going into the road trip, Mat-Su held onto 3rd place in the Alaska Baseball League standings.  The Bucs were in first by 1 game over the Miners, and the Pilots pulling into 2nd by a half game.

Justin Kraft (Centenary) made his first start in the first road game against the Pilots.  Head Coach Russell Raley said before the game that he'd be working on getting a solid rotation because of the lack of off days in the immediate future.  Kraft certainly made a case for himself, as he held the Pilots to 1 ER over 6 innings, while striking out 5 and only letting up 3 hits.

On the offensive end it was a quiet night for the Miners, but a bases-loaded single from DJ Gentile in the 1st inning provided the lone scoring for Mat-Su.  After notching the 2 runs in the first, the Miners went scoreless the rest of the night.  For the first time, the valley's own were caught up in a pitchers duel.  But 3 spotless innings of relief from the bullpen held the lead and Ryan Cole (St. John's) picked up his 5th save of the summer.

Other notables at the plate included James Ramsey (Florida St., 2-5, R), Scott Arthur (Texas A&M, 1-4, R) and Jonathan Johnson (Loyola Marymount, 1-3).  With the win the Miners moved into sole possession of 2nd place.

Thursday night's game against the league-leading Bucs had a similar ring to it.  The Miners again had an early outbreak—this time in the 3rd inning—then the bats fell silent.  Mat-Su loaded the bases in the 3rd before Ramsey hit a bases clearing double.  Ramsey (2-4, R, 3 RBI) scored on Shane Brown's (Central Florida) single in the same frame.

The Miners didn't score from then on, but didn't need to.  David Stilley (Washington St) was back to form, throwing 6.67 innings, striking out 6 and only giving up 1 ER (3 total).  But by the time he left, some fielding blunders let the Bucs back into the game.  The bullpen was solid again, though, between Connor Hulse (Harvard), Owen Dew (Seminole CC) and Estevan Uriegas (Texas A&M).  Since the closer Cole was unavailable (threw 2 straight nights), Uriegas came in and shut the door for his first save this summer.

With the win the Miners moved into 1st place in the ABL with another matchup with the Bucs on Thursday (7 p.m., 6:45 pregame show).  Sam Murphy will start for the Miners in the team's last home game in the month of June.  After a day off Saturday, Mat-Su heads on a week-long road trip to Fairbanks to play the Fire and Panners.