The Peninsula Oilers were swept in a doubleheader by the Anchorage Bucs on Thursday at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage to fall out of first place in the Alaska Baseball League.
The Chugiak Chinooks are now in first place with a 7-4 record. The Oilers, at 8-6, and the Bucs, at 6-4, are tied for second, just a half game back. The Anchorage Glacier Pilots are one game back at 5-4, while the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks are two games back at 3-4. The Mat-Su Miners sit at 3-10.
The Oilers lost the first game 5-2 and the second game 8-6.
In the first game, Jeff Grijalva was able to pitch the Bucs to the victory.
Grijalva pitched 6 2-3 innings and gave up three hits and two runs. He walked four and struck out eight.
Oilers starter and loser J.D. Salles kept the Bucs off the board for the first three innings as the Oilers took a 2-0 lead. That lead came on a double by Josh Miller that scored Trey Richardson and Nigel Nootbaar.
The Bucs came back to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with three runs. The Bucs added another run in the fifth inning, then Zach Esquerra led off the bottom of the sixth with a home run that gave the Bucs a 5-2 lead and chased Salles.
John Straka then came on to retire the next three batters.
In the top of the seventh, the Oilers tried to rally. Riley Heinzer singled and Miller walked to chase Grijalva in favor of Braden Shipley.
Shipley got Jake Alvarez to fly out to third base to end the game.
Esquerra had the biggest offensive game for either team. He was 2 for 3 with two runs and two RBI.
In the second game, the Oilers pitchers had a tough time keeping the Bucs off the board. Starter and loser Nootbaar pitched three innings and gave up four runs.
Mark Garcia pitched a scoreless two-thirds of an inning, but Cole Thompson gave up three runs in 1 1-3 innings and Chris Kono gave up a run in an inning.
The Oilers entered the top of the seventh down 8-3. Peninsula managed to score three runs and get the tying run to first base, but Jordon Hein struck out to end the game.
The Oilers conclude the series with the Bucs tonight at Mulcahy at 7 p.m.
Thursday
Bucs 5, Oilers 2, Game 1
OilersABRHBIBucsABRHBI
Hein rf3000Kalfs rf3110
Ring cf3000Rbrts 2b2110
Ymgchi 1b3000Ssdrf cf2011
Rchrdsn dh2100Cmptn 1b3100
Ntbr lf3110Esqrra lf3222
Sthly ss3000Mttlge ss2000
Hnzr c2010Mthu dh3001
Millr 2b2012Wdswrth c3000
Alvrz 3b2000Lnrds 3b2000
Totals23232Totals23554
Oilers0200000—2
Bucs000311X—5
LOB — Oilers 4, Bucs 3. 2B — Miller. HR — Esquerra. SB —Alvarez, Kalfus, Susdorf.
IPHRERBBSO
Oilers
Salles, L555525
Straka100002
Bucs
Grijalva, W6 2-332248
Shipley, S1-300000
PB — Wadsworth. HB — Salles.
Bucs 8, Oilers 6, Game 2
OilersABRHBIBucsABRHBI
Hein rf3000Kalfus dh2100
Millr lf3000Brink lf3211
Ymgchi 3b4000Susdrf cf4121
Rchrdsn 1b3321Cmptn 3b4243
Koch dh2000Esqrra rf3011
Maciel ph1110Frgsn 1b4001
Sthly ss2110Mattlg ss2110
Sanay 2b4122Rust c3010
Mrtnz c3000Lnrds 2b3111
Ring cf4002xxxxxxxxxxxx
Totals29665Totals288118
Oilers1011003—6
Bucs201113X—8
E — Leonards. LOB — Oilers 10, Bucs 7. 2B — Brink, Compton, Esquerra. 3B — Compton. HR — Richardson, Sanay, Leonards. SB — Susdorf, Compton.
IPHRERBBSO
Oilers
Nootbaar, L354432
Garcia2-310011
Thompson1 1-333311
Kono121100
Bucs
Rhame, W543334
Wright1 1-313132
Shipley, S2-310001
PB — Martinez, Rust. HB — Rhame 2.
