Miners drop tough one vs the Oilers in their first meeting of season

The Miners faced off against the Peninsula Oilers for the first time in two years at Hermon Brothers Field last night, and lost a tough one with a three-run, two-unearned ninth inning. The Miners are now back at .500 at 5-5.

The Miners had a solid first inning, Colin Roos got the start, and stranded two free passes with back-to-back strikeouts. They followed up by getting ahead after shortstop Austin Park walked, stole second and scored on a passed ball.

The Oilers got even with an RBI single in the third, but the Miners responded right away after firstbaseman Declan Spooner walked with the bases loaded. They added another in the fourth with a Diesel Toth RBI groundout after back-to-back singles from Park and centerfielder Matthew Bline. 

Roos struck out two in the fifth to give him seven punchies and the Miners seemed to be rolling but Roos ran into trouble in the sixth. A lead off single, walk and hit by pitch loaed the bases with no outs and Roos's day was done. Zach Bowman was the Miners first call to the pen and was able to only let up an RBI fielders choice and get out of the sixth with a 3-2 lead.

Roos's final line: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 2 HBP, 2 ER, 7 K

Roos said his outing overall was good and his slider and changeup was working really well. 

"Once I got towards the end of the outing, got a little gassed," Roos said. "Overall it was a competitive game but it was good."

The Miners offense couldn't get anything in the back half as they were shutdown by the Oilers bullpen. The Oilers tied it at 3-3 in the seventh with a textbook lead off double, sac bunt and sac fly.

Tie game entering the ninth, Bowman was back out there for his fourth inning and things got out of hand from here. Another lead off double, sac bunt and walk had runners on the corners one away and Bowman still with the rock. A hard comebacker to the mound hit off Bowman's glove and a hurried throw to second was off line and got into shallow right-center, scoring a run and giving the Oilers a 4-3 lead. They added two more on a single and another error on a hard grounder that got under new firstbaseman Kanyon Millar's glove, now a 6-3 ballgame.

Bowman said he did feel good going for a fourth frame and he shouldv'e gone to first on the comebacker.

"I mean I felt good, just gotta limit the damage and we're just hurting ourselves with errors and I threw that one away" Bowman said. "It got to me quick and I thought I could throw to second hoping to turn two."

A Toth single and Jackson Babcock double brought the tying run in Declan Spooner to the plate in the ninth, but a deep fly out to center ended the game.

The Miners play the Oilers again tonight at Hermon Brothers Field 6 P.M. AKDT, looking to get back in the win column.