The Peninsula Oilers had chances, but came up short in a 6-3 loss against the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks at Coral Seymour Memorial Park on Wednesday.
Chinooks 6- Oilers 3
The Chinooks broke the seal in the second inning against Oilers starter Joey Becher with a run on a couple hits. The Chinooks scoring attack was sparked by a fielding error on Oilers shortstop Skyler Messinger putting Chugiak up 1-0 through two innings. Becher, the local product of Soldotna High School in his first start of the season in Kenai this season received the loss.
The game remained 1-0 in favor of the Chinooks until the sixth when Chugiak tacked on three runs against Oilers reliever Eric Reardon putting the Chinooks up 4-0.
The Chinooks added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth against reliever Heath Olive, who allowed two runs on a hit and four walks.
The Chinooks 6-0 lead slowly slipped away in the bottom of the ninth; the Oilers tacked on three runs. RBI’s from Paul Steffensen, Camden Vasquez and Skyler Messinger brought the game to within three with the tying run at the plate in form of Bobby Goodloe.
With two on and two outs, Goodloe grounded-out to first ending the game, securing the 6-3 Chinooks win.
The loss for the Oilers drops them to 2-4 while the Chinooks improved to 2-4, tying the Oilers for fourth place in the five-team ABL standings.
Oilers homestand continues Thursday
The Oilers play the Chinooks in the second game of a six-game series at 7 p.m. on Thursday. The series runs through Sunday, with a 5 p.m. doubleheader scheduled for Saturday and a 2 p.m. game on Sunday.
Follow the Oilers on ESPN 1140 AM and www.radiokenai.com
