Under cloudy skies, the Oilers and Chinooks got underway after a 1 hour and 15 minute rain delay on Friday. With humid temperatures and calm winds, the game featured a home run by both teams as the Oilers were gifted a 4-3 victory in the bottom of the 8th inning.
Francis Segarra bombed a home run to left field in the Chinooks’ 2nd inning off of Oiler starter Harrison Metz. The Oilers answered with 2 in the 3rd inning with the closest thing to back-to-back home runs seen in years. Ryson Ujimori slammed the first pitch into the gap in right-center field, with the ball rolling to the wall. Ujimori used his superior speed to take a triple and then came home on a throwing error by relay man Ryan Leonesio. Two pitches later, Owen McElfatrick hit his 2ndhome run of the season with a shot in almost exactly the samespot as Segarra, tying the score at 2-2.
The Chinooks gained a run back in the 5th when Michael Kelly advanced to third base on two Oiler errors and scored on a sacrifice fly.
In the 8th, two Chinooks errors and a missed double play led to one run and then a clutch single to right field by newly acquired catcher Cole Nachreiner put the Oilers into the lead, 4-3.
But the two stars of the game were both starting pitchers, Nathan Riddle for the Chinooks and Harrison Metz for the Oilers. Both of them went 8 full innings, threw 102 pitches and yielded only 2 earned runs. Ty Thomas earned the save for the Oilers in the 9th inning.
The Oilers are now 18-19 and, if they can sweep the next 2 games of the series, will earn a winning season. They may be facing the MatSu Miners in the ABL playoffs, who hold a half-game lead over the Glacier Pilots.
The Oilers play the Chinooks against at 6:00 pm Saturday, while the Pilots & Miners will slug it out for 1st place at the same time at Mulcahy Park. Pre-game show begins at 5:40 on ESPN 1140 AM, 96.9 FM and radiokenai.com with Bob Bird and Nick Sorrell