Athletes in Action Fire end 6-game skid against Miners

Published Friday, July 4, 2008

FAIRBANKS — Athletes in Action first baseman David Stewart had a timely end to his batting skid Thursday night and his team’s woes in the Alaska Baseball League.

Stewart halted his 0-for-3 night at the plate and the Fire’s six-game losing streak with an RBI double that capped a three-run seventh inning and set up a 10-6 victory over the Mat-Su Miners at Growden Memorial Park.

The sixth straight loss for AIA was Wednesday’s 14-5 shelling by the Miners. The Fire overcame that defeat and fought back Thursday from deficits of 5-1 in the fourth inning and 6-4 in the seventh in their third of four contests against the ABL’s second-place team.

“It shows the character of our team,” said Stewart, a 6-foot-5, 230-pounder from the University of Nebraska. “That’s all there is is fight — fight in every coach, fight in every player.”

Stewart’s double plated Tobias Streich, who had tied the game 6-6 with a single to the gap to bring in Ryan Enos, who had reached on his second hit of the night. Kendall Fox had cut Mat-Su’s lead to 6-5 earlier in the inning, reaching base on a one-out walk, taking second on Enos’ hit, stealing third base and scoring when Miners catcher Steve Domecus’ pickoff attempt went behind third baseman James Ewing.

The sixth-place Fire (4-8 ABL, 7-10 overall) rattled off 15 hits Thursday against Miners starter Thain Simon, an All-American freshman last season for Santa Clara (Calif.) University, and relievers Jeremy Atkins and Charles Ruiz. AIA left fielder Jonathan Merritt hit a game-best 4-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored, and Streich, a catcher, went 3-for-5 with three RBI — one each in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings.

Designated hitter Kevin Winn and center fielder Enos had two hits each and Enos also drove in two runs and scored twice.

Winning pitcher Derek Sumner (2-1) gave up all six runs and six hits to six different Miners in a seven-inning stint, which he also struck out three, walked two, hit a batter and retired the sides in order in the second, fifth and sixth.

Jeremy McChesney earned his first save of the season by retiring the sides in eighth and ninth.

Merritt safely hit in his first three at bats and ended his night with an two-out hit in the Fire’s three-run eighth.

The soon-to-be junior for the University of Alabama Birmingham has hit 7-for-13 in AIA’s last three games.

“I’ve started seeing the ball a little better and I feel a lot more comfortable at the plate,” Merritt said.

The majority of the Fire were seeing the ball well on Thursday, as eight of nine of them had at least one hit.

“You’ve just got to give credit to the Fire. They had 15 hits. They hit the ball well today,’’ Mat-Su’s John Shaffer said. “There’s really nothing you can do when the other team gets 15 hits.

“You’ve just got to tip your cap to them because they hit the crap out of the ball today. We’re going to come back tomorrow and try to play some good baseball and get another win.”

Mat-Su (8-6 ABL, 12-6 overall) is 3-3 in its Interior road trip, which ends with tonight’s game at 7.

Shaffer, from San Jose State, accounted for the last two Miners’ runs. He crushed his first home run of the season over the left field wall for a 5-1 lead in the top of the fifth and he put Mat-Su ahead 6-4 in the seventh by scoring on a passed ball after he had led off with a walk, moved second on a wild pitch and took third on Kyle Jensen’s grounder.

AIA cut the lead to 5-4 with three runs in their half of the fifth, starting with Brint Hardy scoring from third base on a double steal with Kendall Fox. Hardy had reached base on a one-out hit and took third on Fox’s liner off the glove of Simon and out into the gap in center field.

Fox made it 5-3, coming home on Enos’ grounder, and Streich doubled in Merritt, who had reached base on his third straight hit.

Enos’ RBI single in the first gave AIA a 1-0 lead, and Mat-Su responded with a four-run third inning, in which Sumner faced nine batters. DJ Gentile started the surge with an RBI double and Wes Dorrell, Troy Scott and Domecus followed with run-scoring singles.

Contact staff writer Danny Martin at 459-7586.

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