Oilers will not repeat

Peninsula Oilers fans will get a look at the Alaska Baseball League champion in the season-closing, six-game home stand starting on Thursday. That league champion just won't be the Oilers.

Peninsula's attempt to defend its ABL crown came up short on Monday in Fairbanks as the Oilers lost to the Athletes in Action Fire 8-3 in the afternoon, then lost to the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks 8-6 at night. The losses left Oilers with a 14-15 league record.

The first-place Fire are now 20-7 in the league with eight games left to play. Even if the Oilers won all their remaining games and the Fire lost all of their remaining games, the Fire would still win the tiebreaker because their victory on Monday clinched the season series.

The Monday sweep also put a serious dent in the Oilers' hopes of finishing second in the league and earning a trip to the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan. With a 6-3 victory over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots on Monday, the second-place Mat-Su Miners improved to 19-9 in the league and remained 1 1/2 games out of first place. The Miners have already clinched the season series against the Oilers, so the Miners would need to lose their seven remaining games, and the Oilers would have to win their remaining six games, to claim second place.

The Oilers will have an impact on which team wins first, because the Miners visit Thursday, Friday and Saturday and the Fire visit Sunday, July 30 and July 31.

The two losses meant the Oilers finished their current road trip with a 6-4 record. That mark was not enough to make up for the Oilers' first road trip, an 0-9 effort, or the team's troubles in Fairbanks, where the Oilers finished a combined 0-7 against the Fire and Goldpanners.

On Monday, the Oilers were hurt by their starting pitching. Against the juggernaut Fire, who lead the league in ERA and have not been shut out this season, Oilers starter Tyler Fleming entered the game with a 2-1 record and a 3.03 ERA. The Fire roughed him up for seven runs — six earned — and six hits in 4 1/3 innings. Fleming walked six, and three of those runners came around to score.

Oilers reliever Matt Wade came on for Fleming in the fifth and allowed a three-run homer, and that 8-0 cushion was all Fire starter Justin Wood would need. Wood entered the game with a 5-1 record and 2.82 ERA and he shut out the Oilers for seven innings, allowing just three hits and striking out six.

Against the Panners, Oilers starter Chance Deason lasted just 1 1-3 innings in seeing his record drop to 3-2. Deason gave up five hits and five runs while walking three. When the Panners got to reliever Steve Goins for two runs in the fourth inning, they had a 7-4 lead.

The Oilers were down 8-5 in the ninth when they loaded the bases with one out. A wild pitch allowed one run to score and the tying run to move into scoring position, but Adam Younger popped out and David Genao lined to left field.

The Oilers face the Miners on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Fire 8, Oilers 3

Oilers AB R H BI Fire AB R H BI

Dabbs dh 5 1 1 0 Keller lf 3 0 0 0

Melton 2b 5 0 1 0 Lake 2b 2 1 1 0

Buss cf 3 0 1 0 Staples 3b 4 1 1 0

Davis 3b 2 0 0 1 Niewnhs 1b 4 2 2 0

Younger ss 2 0 0 1 Skinner ss 2 1 1 1

Mejia rf 4 0 0 0 Root rf 2 2 0 0

Lundy lf 4 1 1 0 Winn dh 3 0 0 2

Patterson 4 1 1 0 Kmiecik ph 1 0 0 0

Wilkes 1b 3 0 0 0 Hollinger c 2 1 1 3

---- -- -- -- -- McGraw cf 4 0 1 1

Totals 32 3 5 2 Totals 27 8 7 7

Peninsula 000 000 021 —3

AIA 020 150 00x —8

E — Patterson, Staples, Skinner. DP — Oilers 1, Fire 1. LOB — Oilers 9, Fire 5. 2B — Dabbs, Nieuwenhuis. HR — Hollinger. SB — Hollinger. CS — Keller. S — Root. SF — Skinner.

IP H R ER BB SO

Oilers

Fleming, L (2-2) 4 1-3 6 7 6 6 1

Wade 2 2-3 1 1 1 0 1

Isaacs 1 0 0 0 1 0

Fire

Wood, W (6-1) 7 3 0 0 2 6

Kenney 2-3 2 2 2 2 1

Noyes 1 1-3 0 1 0 1 2

HBP — by Wood (Davis), by Denney (Buss), by Wade (Keller).

Goldpanners 8, Oilers 6

Oilers AB R H BI Panners AB R H BI

Dabbs dh 5 0 0 0 Tremblay ss 5 1 1 1

Melton 2b 4 3 2 0 Valencia rf 4 1 1 1

Buss cf 4 2 4 0 Wyatt cf 3 2 2 1

Davis 3b 3 1 0 0 Bard 1b 4 1 2 2

Younger ss 4 0 0 0 Martin lf 5 0 2 2

Genao c 5 0 2 3 Vogel 2b 5 1 1 0

Mejia rf 3 0 1 0 Dempsey 3b 5 0 1 1

Wilkes 1b 1 0 0 0 Hamilton dh 2 1 0 0

Martnz lf 4 0 1 0 Ponciano c 4 1 1 0

Totals 33 6 10 3 Totals 37 8 11 8

Peninsula 103 000 101 —6

Alaska 050 200 01X —8

E — Davis, Younger. DP — Goldpanners 1. LOB — Oilers 9, Goldpanners 11. 2B — Buss, Genao 2, Bard, Vogel. 3B — Buss. SB — Melton, Buss. CS — Mejia.

IP H R ER BB SO

Oilers

Deason, L (3-2) 1 1-3 5 5 5 3 0

Goins 2 3 2 2 0 3

Dunn 1 2-3 1 0 0 1 1

Garcia 1 0 0 0 0 1

Haug 1 0 0 0 0 1

Smyth 1 2 1 1 0 1

Goldpanners

Platt 3 5 4 3 4 5

Lightell, W (2-1) 2 1 0 0 1 0

Watts 4 4 2 2 2 2

WP — Goins, Watts. HBP — by Deason (Valencia), by Platt (Wilkes, Melton), by Dunn (Wyatt), by Deason (Valencia). PB — Ponciano.