Baseball / Miners over Bucs 2-1

Miners over Bucs 2-1

Date:  Source: Anchorage Bucs

PALMER — With the two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the score tied and the go-ahead run at second, the Anchorage Bucs opted to intentionally walk Mat-Su outfielder Nick Brooks.

Textbook situational baseball, but a challenge to the man on deck. And Tyler Bosetti had an answer for the call.

Bosetti drilled a pitch into left field and Kona Quiggle scored from second to give the Miners a 2-1 walk-off win over the Bucs Thursday night at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.

“Just trying to stay relaxed,” Bosetti said of his approach after celebrating the victory with teammates. “They’re going to have to pitch to me obviously. And they want to. Just stay relaxed in that situation and put the barrel on the bat.”

And that’s exactly what the Mat-Su infielder and University of Nevada-Reno product did.

“I love it,” Bosetti said. “You always dream of being in that situation. You visualize it before every game.”

Miners head coach Ben Taylor lauded Bosetti’s ability to come through in the clutch for his team.

“What was awesome is Bosetti came up in that spot a couple of nights ago and made the last out of the inning, and this time he comes through,” Taylor said. “It shows a lot about his character and toughness.”

Quiggle sparked the Miners late with a two-out double to the right field wall, and scored easily from second on the Bosetti single.

“Kona’s a stud. He’s been putting on a show this whole summer,” Bosetti said.

Stellar defense and pitching also helped Mat-Su improve to a league-best 21-12.

Shortstop Drew Swift made a pair of key plays late in the game. In the top of the eighth, with the bases loaded, Anchorage’s Willy Escala sent a grounder to short. Swift fielded the ball and made a quick throw to home to get the force out and prevent the run. In the ninth, Anchorage infielder Jake Vieth, who leads the Alaska Baseball League with a .382 batting average, hit a hard ground ball that chopped deep into the left side of the infield. Swift fielded the ball, and was able to make the throw to first.

“The guy is unbelievable at shortstop,” Bosetti said. “I’ve never seen a guy better than him at shortstop at our age.”

Taylor also had high praise for Swift, an Arizona State freshman.

“He’s as good a shortstop as I’ve ever had up here,” Taylor said of his six seasons with the Miners. “And we’ve had some damn good ones.”

Nathan Bock earned the win in relief, retiring two of the three batters he faced in relief. Kyle King faced only the first hitter of the ninth, Vieth. Taylor said it was one of the biggest outs of the game.

“Kyle King was a real story in this game,” Taylor said. “Kyle King has worked hard to pitch his way into our left-handed specialists role, and we don’t win that game without King.”

Jonathan Guardado enjoyed a stellar start, despite being issued the no decision. The Arizona freshman allowed only three hits and an earned run over seven innings.

“I thought Guardado was awesome,” Taylor said. “It’s the first time he got to pitch at home. Nice debut in front of the home fans.”

Ian Churchill also worked an inning in relief.

With the win, the Miners held on to their three-game lead at the top of the ABL standings.

“We’re playing really good right now. I think if we keep this up, we’re going to go far in this league,” Bosetti said.

Contact Frontiersman editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.