newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — Friday night’s 6-5 loss to the Mat-Su Miners was one of those “what-if?” Alaska Baseball League games for head coach Mike Gillespie and his Athletes in Action Fire.

The sixth-place Fire, with their third loss in four games to the ABL’s second-place squad, couldn’t help but wonder how the game may have turned out if not for a few situations:

• Leadoff batter Brint Hardy, before he scored twice in the game, was left stranded at third base in the bottom of the first inning after reaching base by getting hit by Miners starter and game-winner Jason Erikson’s first pitch of the game.

• Ryan Enos, in scoring position during the fourth, got thrown out while trying to steal home with one out and Kevin Winn at the plate. Winn then launched a full-count double to right-center field.

• Enos, though, wasn’t alone in getting caught stealing. Jonathan Merritt and Winn were victims in the sixth and seventh, respectively.

The loss, making the Fire 4-9 in the league and 7-11 overall, overshadowed no-hit relief efforts from Eric Hillebrand and Cody Brown over the last five innings, and AIA’s four-run surge in the last three innings to close Mat-Su’s lead to 6-5 after the Miners led 6-0 in the top of the fourth.

AIA displayed the same fight that rallied it to a 10-6 victory on Thursday night, but it couldn’t turn the corner Friday to get its second straight win.

“It’s kind of a Catch-22, and I guess it’s magnified in a one-run game like this,” Gillespie said. “We did make some base-running mistakes early on and we got behind early. We talked about showing the character to fight back and just putting ourselves in position to win — that’s what we ask guys to do.”

Mat-Su (9-6, 13-6) saw its defense secure its fourth win of a seven-game Interior road trip after the Miners went hitless following Jordin Hood’s game-winning and two-out hit to the gap in center field in their half of the fourth.

“We’ve done that for a couple of days now — we’ve kind of put it in cruise control and basically slowed down for the rest of the game,’’ Hood said of Mat-Su’s offense after the fourth. “We need to keep going for the rest of the game.

“It (defense) has been huge for us.”

Merritt, a shortstop, and Winn, a designated hitter, each had a game-best 3-for-4 performance at the plate, with Merriitt driving in two runs and scoring twice and Winn driving in one run.

Third baseman Blake Newalu, who recently graduated from high school in McDonough, Ga. and is headed to the University of San Diego, led the Miners with a 2-for-4, three-RBI night, highlighted by a two-run double in the top of the first.

The Fire started fighting back in the fourth, as Enos, before he was caught stealing, banged a double to right center field to score Merritt, who had led with a hit and advanced to second base on a thowing error by Newalu.

Tobias Streich made it 6-2 in the seventh, greeting Miners reliever Charles Ruiz with a leadoff home run over the left field wall.

The Fire, facing Miners relievers Michael Carlson and Michael Rocha, loaded the bases twice and trimmed the lead to 6-4 in the eighth.

Merritt singled home Hardy, who had led off with a walk from Carlson, and Merritt, with one out and bases loaded, scored on Winn’s sacrifice fly.

Merritt, during AIA’s discipleship session earlier Friday, wrote the word “fight’’ in his cap.

“We’ve been fighting hard,’’ he said. “It’s real easy to lay down, but it shows a lot of heart that we keep coming back, keep fighting.’’

After Brown retired the side in order in the eighth, Hardy reached base on a fielding error by Rocha and advanced on Kendall Fox’s infield hit.

Merritt then bounced an infield hit in front of Mat-Su first baseman Troy Scott to score Hardy. Rocha, though, got Enos to fly out to left fielder Kyle Jensen to end the game.

Mat-Su loaded the bases twice in the first inning against Fire starter Brett Hoogkamp and took a 3-0 lead on Scott’s sacrifice fly and Newalu’s two-run double.