There were plenty of Oakland Ballers at Raimondi Park in West Oakland who picked up a five run win over the Yolo High Wheelers on Sun Jul 7, 2024 (photo by the Oakland Ballers)
Yolo High Wheelers ((18-21) 040 050 000 9 9 2
Oakland Ballers (24-18) 004 611 20x 14 15 2
Time: 3:40
Attendance: 1,103
Sunday, July 7, 2024
By Lewis Rubman
WEST OAKLAND–Turnabout is fair play. What goes around comes around. History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy; the second as farce. Choose your cliché, this weekend’s battles royal between the Pioneer League’s two most recent entries had it.
Saturday afternoon, the Oakland Ballers fell behind their rivals from Davis 4-0 in the second inning. Yolo added two runs in each of the following three frames to amass a seemingly insurmountable 10-0 lead when the Ballers came to bat in the bottom of the fifth. They put a four spot on the board then and tacked on six more in the seventh to even the score only to run out of steam and fall 13-10.
That was a tough loss and a tough act to follow.
But the Ballers bounced back this Sunday afternoon, winning going away, 14-9, in ways that frequently harked back to Saturday’s debacle.
It started with another fearsome fourth run top of the second, which was particularly unsettling because the Wheelers also had posted a quartet of second inning tallies not just on Saturday, but on Friday as well. Sunday night’s featured a solo home run by Yolo’s DH, Justin Kirby, two singles—one of them on a bunt—, a double, and a misplay Myles Jefferson, usually a shortstop but playing second today.
It originally had been scored a hit but after much discussion was reclassified as an error. It was fitting that the game would end with Jefferson, who was moved back to his normal position in the top of the eighth, would pull off a beautiful play at short, for the game’s final out.
But the worm turned Sunday. Oakland answered Yolo’s attack with a counter offensive that evened the score in the third. A Payton Harden single, followed by an Austin Davis double off the left field wall and Trevor Halsema’s sac fly to left kick started the Oakland comeback. It continued with two way player JP Gates, in his designated hitter mode singled to left and trotted home on Dondrei Hubbard’s tying home run. That blast would be voted the play of the game.
It certainly changed the nature of the contest, but there was more to come. Instead of petering out, Oakland’s offense picked up in the fourth where it had left off in the third, sending ten men to the plate . The B’s began by clogging the base paths with one out, chasing Yolo starter JC Ariza from the mound, replaced by Jacob Stobart.
He walked Davis, putting the Ballers up by a run. With the count 2-1, Gates swung and connected for a two run single to right. Stobart plunked Hubbard. Noah Martínez smacked a two bagger to right, plating Gates and Hubbard. Now it was Oakland who had two digits in the R column.
Nightmare visions of Saturday’s squandered comeback briefly appeared in the visitors’ fifth, when five High Wheelers crossed the plate. Brayland Skinner walked, stole second, and took third on a wild pitch by Oakland’s starting pitcher, Christian Cosby, arguably the ace of the staff, having started the day with a record of 4-1, 4.79, which in the Pioneer League are Cy Young numbers.
Brylin Marine, Yolo’s batting leader, ground out to short but drove in Skinner, for Yolo’s fifth run. Bobby Lada’s double and a free passes to Brandon Blackford and Kirby loaded the bases and set the scene for Yolo’s last hurrah, a grand slam by Kirkland Banks. It came on the last of Cosby’s 118 pitches. Cosby was charged with nine runs, six earned, on seven hits, three walks, and a wild pitch. He struck out 10.
The Ballers added a superfluous but reassuring run in each of the fifth and sixth innings, and two final tallies in the seventh.
After Cosby’s departure, one out short of earning (by the skin of his teeth the win), the Ballers used three relievers. None of them permitted any Yolo runs. The eventual winner, Zach St. Pierre, threw 26 pitches in two hitless innings to gain his first win against two losses. Conner Richardson gave up a hit in 1-1/3 frames, in which he threw 33 pitches. Carson Lambert’s 17 pitch one hit ninth closed the book on the High Wheelers.
The crew from Davis also sent four hurlers to the mound. Following Ariza (3-1/3 IP, seven runs, all earned; seven hits (one out of the park); three walks, and a hit batter, all on 70 pitches) were Stobart (1-1/3 innings, four runs, earned, three hits, two walks, and a strikeout on 26 pitches); Kris Anglin (a hit in two thirds of an inning, 17 pitches; and Noah Estrella, who allowed Oakland its last three runs, all earned, in 2-2/3 innings, in which he gave up four hits and walk on 41 pitches).
Three Ballers had multi-hit games. Two way Gates led the way, going five for five. Move over, Ohtani! Noah Martínez went three for four; Davis, two for five. Davis, Gates and Martínez doubled. Hubbard, Martínez, and Jaylen Smith hit four baggers for the home team.
Kirkland Banks and Kyle Guerra, with two apiece, had multi-hit games for the High Wheelers. Each of them also homered. Bobby Lada and Banks banged two baggers. Marine, who went one for five, extended his streak of consecutive games reaching base safely to 25.
After their usual Monday day off, the Ballers will open a new six game home series, beginning Tuesday the ninth at 6:35 against the last place Great Falls Voyagers
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