The Peninsula Oilers have virtually grabbed a lock on the ABL playoffs, taking 6-3 and 5-4 victories in the 5-game series that closes out the regular season.
On Thursday the Oilers came from behind in a tight contest to score the winning run in the bottom of the 8th. Michael Elko did the job very quickly with a single, a stolen base and an advancement on a wild pitch, to find himself perched on 3rd base with no one out and Ty Thomas at the plate. Thomas grounded out, but Elko easily scored from third to take the only Oiler lead of the game at 5-4.
Nick Costello went 3 for 4 and Ty Thomas had 2 more RBIs to add to the three from the previous game.
Ty Correa pitched 5 innings, yielding only 1 earned run. His league leading ERA is now an incredible 0.83. However, Sam Silversmith got the win for the Oilers, pitching 4 innings, allowing 3 unearned runs and striking out eight batters, including the final out with a Chinook runner in scoring position.
The Oilers now stand at 17-19 while the Chinooks are 13-23, four games back of the Oilers. The remaining 3 games would not be enough for the Chinooks to get into a tie with the Oilers, but because of a rain-out in Eagle River, should the Chinooks win the next 3 games, the rain-out would be played at the Oiler’s field with the Chinooks the home team. Such a scenario is merely speculative at this point, but mathematically, the Chinooks might still have an opportunity.
The Oilers play the Chinooks against at 6:00 p.m. Friday. Pre-game show begins at 5:40 p.m. on ESPN 1140 AM, 96.6 FM and radiokenai.com with Bob Bird and Nick Sorrell.
