The Miners are now about a quarter of the way through their regular season schedule. However, with so many different players beginning to contribute, manager Brian Yocke's job has become much more difficult in filling out a lineup card each evening.
Behind the plate, the Miners have began to settle on Casey Coyle (Fr./Oklahoma) as the starting catcher. Coyle has become an instant fan favorite thanks to some clutch hits and impressive plays defensively. He has hit .364 with 3 doubles and 3 RBI. Adam Martin (Fr./Western Carolina) has also seen time behind the plate, and after getting off to a slow start Martin has shown signs of putting that behind him. Saturday night Martin had two-hits, including a double to left field.
Over at first base, the Miners have used almost exclusively Cam Kneeland (Jr./UMass-Lowell). Despite getting off to a slow start offensively, Kneeland's defense has been very strong. Coming into tonight Kneeland has his fielding percentage sitting at a perfect 1.000. Saturday night Kneeland began to take his first swings out of the early season slump, going 2-for-5 with an rbi in the game vs. the Pilots.
At the middle infield positions, the Miners have rotated between three different players. Kevin Lum (Jr./Oklahoma St.) has rotated back and forth between the 2B and SS positions. Lum is arguably the hottest player in all of the ABL, hitting .571 during league games. Lum is joined in the middle infield by Tim Zier (Fr./San Diego St.) and Ryan Ford (So./Middle Tennessee St.). Zier is hitting .216 with 5 RBI, but has only committed one error at second base. Ford has struggled at the dish, but has been very steady defensively.
Rounding out the infield at third base is Stephen Branca (Jr./Tennessee Wesleyan). Branca has been red-hot of late, going 6 for his last 10 at the plate. During that span he has 3 doubles and a triple. In ABL play, Branca holds an impressive .714 slugging percentage. Branca's seen the majority of his starts come out of the three-hole in the batting order.
The outfield has been largely distributed between four different players. Dominick Francia (Fr./Louisiana-Lafayette) has stolen an impressive 13 bases, and has hit .344 so far. He also leads the team in runs scored, with 9. After coming in as a reserve on opening night, Francia has started in the following nine games. Another key-contributor for the Miners so far has been Jaycob Brugman (Fr./BYU). Brugman came into the ABL on the heels of a freshman campaign that saw him hit .421 in Mountain West Conference play. Last week, Brugman was named to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America team. So far for the Miners, Brugman is hitting .290, with four extra base hits. Michael Suiter (HS Sr./Kailau, Hawaii) has hit .211 thus far, but became the first Miner to go yard this year when he went deep Saturday night in Anchorage. The Santa Clara commit was selected in the 37th round by the Cincinnati Reds two weeks ago. Nick Rosso (Fr./St. Mary's) has only made five starts, has made a huge impact during that stretch. Rosso leads the team in slugging percentage (.647%) and triples (2) so far this year. He also has a batting average of .353.
The pitching staff for the Miners has been very sharp out of the gates, with a team ERA of 2.83. However, the squad will have to replace a couple of relievers. Ryan Kemp (Jr./St. Joe's) and A.J. Holland (Jr./St. Joe's) each were selected a couple of weeks ago in the MLB Draft and have since decided to sign professionally. Kemp was taken in the 14th round by Cincinnati, while Holland was taken in the 16th round by Atlanta.
Steven Bruce (Fr./Oklahoma) has led the Miners pitching staff so far. Entering this week Bruce has yet to allow a run in 11 1/3 innings of work.
To fill the three open roster spots, the Miners have made a few transactions. To fill the spots left open by Holland and Kemp, the Miners have signed pitchers Brandon Hedrick (Jr./Union College, KY) and Matt Applegate (Jr./Kansas St.) and catcher Mason Guymon (Jr./Carson-Newman). Applegate returns to Alaska after helping the Miners win the ABL last season. Hedrick was one of the top pitchers in all of the NAIA this season. He went 11-3 with a 2.78 era. In 87 1/3 innings pitched, he struck out 103 hitters. Guymon is regarded as one of the best defensive catchers in the Division II level of the NCAA. This season Guymon threw out 17 out of 18 would be base stealers.
Be sure to check out the blog all summer long for interviews, videos, and other notes about the Miners and the ABL.
- Tonight's Game: Miners (6-3-1, 4-1 in ABL) vs. Glacier Pilots (0-5, 3-9-1 in ABL).
- First Pitch: 7:00pm from Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer. Tonight is also Coca-Cola's Public Safety Appreciation Day, here at the park.
- Media: Matt Dudas and Michael Broskowski bring you the action beginning at 6:50pm for the Miners Pre-Game show. Listen live on www.matsuminers.org and locally on Q99.7.
- Pre-Game Guest: Michael Broskowski is scheduled to be joined by outfielder Michael Suiter.
- Tomorrow: The Miners get an off-day. Check back for a recap of tonight's game tomorrow.
-Matt Dudas
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