Oilers 13, Pilots 2
The Oilers bats came alive on Tuesday after an ugly loss to the Bucs in the first game of the road trip. The O’s scored a run in the first thanks to an RBI single from Ty Thomas (Mt Sac) that scored Cole Dawson (Arkansas Tech), who reached on a walk and was awarded second on a balk from Pilots starter Mac Zawistoski.
Despite back-to-back strikeouts from Oilers starting pitcher Max Sasaki (Long Beach CC), the Pilots also rallied to score a run in the first. A two-out single from Luke Stulga and an RBI double from Jacob Kowes tied the game 1-1.
Both teams went scoreless in the second before the O’s offense struck again in the third. Bryce Burkey singled to start the inning, followed by a walk from Petey Soto (Utah Tech), putting runners on first and second with no outs. Cole Dawson laid down a sac bunt that moved the runners into scoring position. Colin Robson took the opportunity to pick up two more RBIs and singled, giving the Oilers a 3-1 lead.
Max Sasaki continued to deal well on the mound, throwing shutout baseball in innings two, three, four, and five. The Oilers helped their pitcher out by scoring four runs in the fifth and three runs in the sixth. Sasaki gave up his first run since the first inning on a solo shot home run off the bat of Jake Dodge to make it a 10-1 game going into the seventh inning.
Cameron Tepper (Cal Baptist) picked up right where Sasaki left off, facing four batters in the seventh and three in the eighth. Oilers bats stayed hot and plated three more runs in the top of the eighth to earn themselves a mercy rule victory in the eighth inning.
Max Sasaki got the win, going six innings, allowing two runs on three hits and five strikeouts. The Oilers combined for thirteen runs on twelve hits and walked ten times.
The Oilers (9-7) will play a doubleheader against the Eagle River Chinooks on Wednesday. The first game is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
Tune into the Sweeney’s Pregame Show at 5:40 p.m. on ESPN 1140 AM, 96.9 FM, and radiokenai.com.
