The Peninsula Oilers have now won five of their last six games in the ABL, returning to their winning ways with an 11-7 victory over the Glacier Pilots in Anchorage.
Leighton Helfrick went 3 for 5, scoring 2 runs and 1 RBI, while Theo Forshey and Mike Elko both had 2 RBIs and also scored a pair of runs each.
Both teams had sharp bats in the early innings, with the Oilers leading 5-3 after 3 innings. The Peninsula squad continued with its penchant of starting rallies with 2 outs and nobody on base right away in the 1st inning, with walks to Ben Griffin and Nick Costello, followed by a Forshey double that scored both. The Pilots countered with a two out, 2 run blast by Troy Harding, knotting the score in the bottom frame.
A cluster of wild pitches and passed balls, along with a Josiah Chavez double, put the game out of reach in a 5-run 7th inning for the Oilers. Cruising to an apparent 11-4 win with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, the Oilers mysteriously gave runs away with dropped pop-ups and throwing errors, allowing the Pilots 3 additional runs to make it close for the 11-7 final.
Winning pitcher Evan Langer went 6 innings, allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, struck out 6 and walked only two. Ty Thomas and Connor Throneberry hurled the final 3, allowing only 1 earned run. Throneberry fanned 4 in 2 2/3 innings.
The next Oiler game is Thursday against the Anchorage Bucs at 6:00 pm, who have dropped to 2nd place in the ABL with a 4-game losing streak. The Oilers have climbed out of the cellar and are 4 games behind the 1st place Miners in the ABL sardine can standings. All games are heard on ESPN 1140 AM, 96.9 FM and radiokenai.com.
