Chinooks Spoil Miners' Comeback for the Second Time in Less than a Week

The Mat-Su Miners fell to the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks 10-8 on Wednesday night, falling to 6-5 in the standings and giving the Chinooks a third win in four games. 

A quick look at the boxscore would tell a story of deja vu, as the Miners once again fell into a deep 8-0 hole after the top of the fifth before Mat-Su would erase the deficit and tie up the game after an RBI single from BYU's Rdige Erickson in the bottom of the eighth. 

However, the Miners blew the tie again at the top of the ninth, suffering a second devastating loss in just four days after erasing an 8-0 deficit vs the Chinooks last Sunday, only to give up three runs in the ninth inning to lose 12-9. 

Gonzaga's Michael Cunneely got the start for the Miners and quickly gave up a RBI double and a two-run single to make the game 3-0 after just three outs. 

After a Nick Hockemeyer solo homerun in the top of the fourth, the Chinooks would plate four more runs in the top of the fifth off a combination of starter Michael Cunneely and Miner's relief arm Greyson Chappell. 

However, the Miners refuse to lie down and quit when they are massively down in games. Mat-Su would respond in the bottom half of the fifth, scoring six runs of their own behind RBI hits from Evan Bilter, Eliot Medlock, and Greg Pierantoni. An RBI single by Ridge Erickson in the bottom of the sixth evaporated all but one run of the Chinooks' original 8-0 lead. 

Erickson came through again in the eighth, getting his second RBI single to tie the game back up at 8-8. 

That's when the top of the ninth came again. Bowling Green's Kade Arn would come in and record the first two outs of the inning before giving up a double to Chinook's Jake Mitchell, a walk, and then another single to load the bases. That's when Chinook's Charlie Deaton would poke the third hit of the ninth into shallow center field to put the Chugiak back up 10-8. 

A quiet bottom of the ninth would give Chugiak a second-straight win vs Mat-Su, after another rollercoaster game. The Miners will look to regroup vs the Glacier Pilots tomorrow night.

Dylan VanderVeen
2025 Mat-Su Miners Broadcaster