Sunday: Oilers sweep doubleheader from Chinooks

The Peninsula Oilers swept an Alaska Baseball League doubleheader from the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks on Sunday at Coral Seymour Memorial Park in Kenai, winning 1-0 and 7-2.

The Oilers strengthened their hold on second place in an ABL that isn’t seeing a lot of baseball right now due to rainy conditions in Southcentral Alaska.

The Anchorage Bucs lead the league at 17-7, while the Oilers are 15-11, the Mat-Su Miners are 12-13, the Anchorage Glacier Pilots are 11-16 and the Chinooks are 8-16.

The Oilers have a chance to sweep the five-game series against the Chinooks with a 4 p.m. Monday doubleheader at Seymour Park.

“The team’s great,” said Cody New, the winning pitcher for the Oilers in the first game. “We’ve got a really scrappy group, and everybody’s just super enjoyable to be around.

“The vibes are good. We’re feeling good. We’re playing summer ball in Alaska and fishing all the time.”

The wind was streaming in from the outfield for both games. The first game was at least sunny, but in the second game the sun went behind the clouds, the temperatures dropped to the low 50s and a light rain spit from the sky at times.

“This was a little rough to play in for both sides, but the weather’s equally bad for both teams,” Oilers head coach Larry McCann said. “But it got really cold there.

“This is not really baseball weather.”

The first game saw just five hits combined by the two squads — none with runners in scoring position. The Chinooks were 0 for 7 with those chances, while the Oilers were 0 for 8.

The lone run came in the bottom of the first, when Petey Soto led off with a single, went to second on a bunt single by Cole Dawson, went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Colin Robson, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Max Roffwarg.

That would be all New and reliever Zach Camp needed.

New had his best outing of the season, going six innings and giving up a hit while walking three and striking out seven.

Camp pitched a perfect seventh, striking out one.

New pitches for head coach Gary Adcock at Division I California Baptist University.

Adcock was the head coach for the Oilers in 1999 and 2000, leading the team to ABL titles each year. He has the best winning percentage in team history.

New said he’s happy with how he pitched when the Chinooks reached base.

“It was not the year at Cal Baptist I necessarily wanted, but it really helped me grow,” New said. “I’m up here to play, but also to work on my craft.

“That’s something I struggled with in the past, is letting the game speed up when I got runners on base. I feel like I did a really good job keeping the team in the game and controlling myself when I was on the mound.”

Camp made his first appearance for the Oilers. He’s a closer who is a graduate from Villanova. McCann said Camp will help because he throws strikes and he’s a competitor.

For the Chinooks, Jacob Hulse went 3 2-3 innings and gave up a run on three hits. John Green had 2 1-3 scoreless innings, allowing a hit.

In the second game, the Oilers were able to bang out 11 hits and seven runs despite the tough playing conditions.

“To put up seven runs in this kind of weather is pretty good,” McCann said.

The Oilers got a run in the first, then blew the game open with four runs in the fourth and runs in the fifth and sixth.

Like New, Aaron Morris had his best outing of the season for the Oilers.

McCann said Morris can get into problems with walks. Morris went five scoreless innings, allowing two hits, three walks and hitting a batter.

“It was just figuring out what I was doing wrong before and trying to make adjustments,” Morris said. “Then having a defense and a good catcher backing me up.”

Morris held the Chinooks to 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position. He said adjustments to arm path and arm speed helped him stop losing his pitches right.

Morris is the brother of Drew Thorpe, who played for the Oilers in 2019 and is 3-1 with a 3.58 ERA in his debut season for the Chicago White Sox this season.

Morris said it’s a coincidence he also ended up with the Oilers. He said that’s where his college coaches sent him.

Morris said his brother didn’t have any advice for pitching for the ABL.

“We talked a lot about pitching mechanics, but it’s just trying to have fun,” he said. “It’s still a game.”

The Chinooks did get to reliever Nathan Hoffman for two runs on a hit in two innings. McCann said Hoffman had tough duty sitting in a cold bullpen for two games, then coming in late.

On offense, Zakary Farris did the most damage for the Oilers. He hit a three-run triple in the fourth, then scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-0.

Farris finished 2 for 3 with four RBIs, and also had a double in the first game.

“He’s had a couple big hits,” McCann said. “He seems to hit a lot better when there’s two or three guys on base.”

Braden Smith was 2 for 3 with two runs for the Oilers, while Cole Dawson was 2 for 3.

For the Chinooks, Brayden Adams gave up five runs on eight hits in 3 2-3 innings, while Peyton Niemann yielded two runs on three hits in 2 1-3 innings.