Miners Sweep DH, hope for 2 on Tuesday

To say that Monday was an interesting day is a bit of an understatement here in Fairbanks.  First of all, since it's been a while, let's catch up on what exactly happened since we got here.

Clayton Ehlert started the first game of the series Sunday night.  He got through 5 innings without so much as a hiccup.  Heading into the 6th the Miners led 5-0 behind RBI efforts by each of the 3-4-5-6 hitters and Nick Croce.  James Ramsey had a solo homer in the 4th and was 2-3 on the game.  DJ Gentile and Jonathan Cisneros also had 2 hits and Shane Brown had 1.

Ehlert lasted through 2 outs in the 6th after giving up 3 runs to the Fire, and AIA got one more in the 7th.  That's when the rain started.  Both teams got through the 8th inning scoreless, but after one pitch in the 9th, the umps called the game.  At the time we thought it was official.

League rules, though, stipulate that each game be finished.  And because of another rule saying each team can only play at most 2 games per day, we were forced to hold off on the 9th inning until Tuesday.

MEANWHILE, the Miners had 2 more dominant efforts Monday in both games of the doubleheader.  They were 7 inning games.  In the early matchup, the Miners used 7 walks from Fire starter Cameron Heath to build a 7 run lead after 3 innings with only 3 hits.  The game didn't get much closer and a Shane Brown homerun in the 7th put the Miners in front 13-4 and the game ended 13-7.  RL Eisenbach improved to 3-0 with the Miners and still has a miniscule sub-2.5 ERA.

The nightcap took a little longer to get going offensively.  Both teams were scoreless through 5 innings.  Will Musson made his first start of the summer for the Miners and threw 5, striking out 3.  Chad Marshall picked up the game's first RBI, followed by a 2 RBI 2B by Nick Cox that turned into another run (Cox scored on the same play after advancing to 3rd on the throw home and scoring on an error).  That'd be all the Miners needed, but Jonathan Cisneros blasted a 2-run homer in the 7th inning.  Mat-Su won 6-1 to sweep both games.

With the wins, the Miners moved into first place by 1.5 games over the Bucs, with a half game still up for grabs if the 9th inning stays as is.  The teams will finish the game at 6:30, followed directly after by the originally scheduled game.  Justin Kraft starts the 9-inning affair and you can hear it all here.

As promised, the picture above is of Growden Memorial Field, home to the Fire and Panners.  The Miners are here until July 4.