Tag: Glacier Ranger Riders

Oakland Ballers James Colver started and picked up his second win of the season against the Glacier Range Riders at Raimondi Park on Sat Jun 21, 2025 (Oakland Ballers photo)

Glacier Range Riders (11-18) 000 213 000 6 17 3

Oakland Ballers (20-9) 101 030 05x 10 12 3

Time: 2:36

Attendance: 3,250

Saturday, June 21, 2025

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–Exciting, but not always well-played, games are getting to be a habit at Ernie Raimondi Park. This sunny and, for the most part, warm Saturday afternoon, the home team rode a roller coaster in their match against their guests from Montana, over whom they prevailed by a score of 10-6 score for the straight time in as many days.

The competing teams managed to commit a half a dozen errors, and that includes only those that were officially scored as such; no mental mistakes, misplayed balls, incompleted double plays, or he should have gotten it among them.

The Ballers won, 10-6, the same score by which they had won last night, but today they needed a five run rally in the eighth to pull it off. Each team made 12 hits, connected for two doubles and two home runs, and was charged with three errors. Talk about evenly matched!

The B’s used five pitchers. The first of them, Noah Miliken, was the beneficiary of that recent rarity, an early Ballers lead. After Miliken had set the Range Riders down in order in the opening frame, Oakland’s lead off hitter, Esai Santos, smacked Jared Engman’s 0-1 offering over the right field fence for the first of the two runs his team would register against the Riders’ right handed starter in his three innings of work. The second tally came in the third on Nick Leehey’s single to center, a wild pitch, and a single to right by Davis Drewek.

Glacier pulled even in the fourth on Kingston Levari’s leadoff double to left center, Jack Lynch’s RBI single, and an error by second sacker Daniel Harris IV. They went ahead, 3-2. in their next turn at bat on TJ Clarkson’s solo round tripper to center.

The Range Rider’s right fielder had homered twice in last night’s thriller. When Logan Beard followed tonight’s shot with a double, Adam Bogosian followed Millikan to the mound and finished the frame by getting Xavier Casserill to ground into a 6-4-3 twin killing.

The pendulum swung in Oakland’s favor in the bottom of the fifth. Christian Almanza’s 417′ blast to straightaway center field with Buggs, who had walked, and Drewek, who had singled, on base, obliterated the Riders’ brief advantage.

But leads are made to be lost, especially in the Pioneer League, and Oakland’s newfound 5-3 advantage was transformed into a 6-5 deficit. Kenneth Levari opened the top of the sixth with a bunt single to third and trotted home in front of Kingston Liniak, whose drive to left was caught … in the netting above the fence.. Jack Lynch doubled to right, and that brought Conner Richardson in to relieve Bogosian.

Gabe Howell singled to left, Lynch advanced to third and held on. He came home on Efraín Manzo’s grounder to short that forced Howell out a second. Clarkson’s single to left moved Manzo up 90 feet. An error by Leehay at the hot corner loaded the bases, but Xavier Casserill popped out to right to staunch the bleeding.

Glacier was riding high, hanging on to their slim margin when Oakland came to bat in the bottom of the eighth. Nick Zegna replaced Luke Cooper, the only one of the four pitchers theRange Riders used to try to contain Oakland’s potent offence not to have given up a run, holding them to a couple of hits and a base on balls in the sixth and seventh.

An error by Beard at second put Tyler Lozano on first. Ryan Pierce, making his professional debut, pinch hit for James Colyor, who had been pitching for the B’s and was scheduled to bat because of some fancy manipulation of the Pioneer League’s substitution rules by manager Aaron Miles.

He smacked a double to left that tied the score. Two walks, intentional, another pair of RBI on a single by the irrepressible Almanza plus an error by Liniak in center and another on Manzo at third equal five runs on two hits and three errors with one runner left on base for the inning and 10-6 lead for the Ballers.

Connor Sullivan pitched the top of the ninth and struck out all three Range Runners he faced.

Four Ballers had multi hit games: Drewek, Harris, Almanza, and Lozano, with two each. Lozano and Pierce doubled. Santos and Almanza, who drove in five runs, homered. The other B’s with RBI were Santos, Drewek, and Pierce at one each. Levari logged three hits in five at bats for Glacier. Four of his teammates two hits a piece: Clarkson, Liniak, Lynch, and Howell.

The two teams will end their six game series, starting at 1:05 Sunday morning. Glacier (11-18) will send Ty Bothwell (0-1). to the mound. Oakland (20-9) will counter with Luke Short (2-1).

The Ballers then will leave town for an extended road trip and won’t play at home until 6:35 in the evening of Tuesday, July 8th, when they’ll face the Rocky Mountain Vibes on Bruce Lee night.

Oakland Ballers pitching held off the Glacier Range Riders on Wed June 18, 2025 at Raimondi Park in Oakland in Pioneer League action (Oakland Ballers photo)

Glacier Range Riders (10-16) 100 001 300 5 8 0

Oakland Ballers (18-8) 303 000 00x 6 12 3

Time:2:35

Attendance: 1,872

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–In a marked contrast to Wednesday night’s thrilling come from behind win over the Glacier Range Riders, the Ballers put up a half dozen runs in the first three frames and then held on to their 3-1 lead as it dwindled to 6-5 in the seventh to hang on and record their fifth straight victory.

It was Baseball for All Night, with an emphasis on women in baseball, and the umpire for the right side of the diamond was Kate Hart, who did such a good job that she passed virtually unnoticed. This evening’s contest began, like its predecessor on Tuesday, with the Riders taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, only now the Ballers roared back with three on back to back singles by Tramayne Cobb, Jr., and Esai Santos, followed by double by Davis Drewek that drove in both of them.

Cam Bufford’s fly to right allowed Drewek to advance to third, and he scored on Christian Almanza’s ground out to second. The B’s added another three tallies in their half of the third. Bufford opened it with a single to center and motored on to third on Almanza’s safety to right.

Danny Harris IV’s single to left plated Drewek and allowed Almanza to move up another 90 feet. With Lou Helmig at bat, a wild pitch enabled both runners to advance another base, and the Baller’s now led, 4-1. Helmig’s two bagger to right that made it 6-1.

Reed Butz, Oakland’s starting southpaw began to waver in the top of the sixth, just about the time the temperature began to drop. Gabe Howell, the second batter he faced, went yard on him to left, and that was it for Butz.

The eventual winning pitcher had needed 107 pitches to complete his 5-1/3 innings of work, during which he had surrendered two runs, one earned, on five hits, including Howell’s homer that drove him from the box. He struck out seven and walked two. Connor Richardson replaced him and hurled another 1-2 /3 innings.

The Range Riders’ resurgence in the top of the seventh suggested the possibility of a repetition in reverse of Oakland’s Tuesday comeback. Kyle Ashworth, leading off, set the stage by reaching first on an error by Harris. One out later, TJ Clarkson doubled to right.

Now it was 6-3. Another out later and another double, this one by Xavier Casserilla, and it was 6-4. Next up was Kingston Liniak. He managed a single to short, allowing Casserilla to make it to third. Seconds later, Cobb’s errant throw resulted in Liniak hugging third and Casserilla crossing the plate with Glacier’s fifth run.

Carson Lambert was on the bump for the B’s to pitch the eighth, and he provided a sigh of relief by escaping unscathed after throwing 17 pitches, one of which hit Angel Mendoza ,which brought forth cries of “He didn’t get out of the way” and so on from the crowd. Lambert also fanned a couple of Riders in the frame.

Connor Sullivan wrapped it up for the Ballers, needing only 12 pitches to strike out a pair of opponents on his way to earning his seventh save of the season. That’s the most in the league.

The visitors used four pitchers.. All of the runs the B’s were scored against Glacier’s starter, starboard hurler Grant Taylor, who took the loss, which dropped his record to 1-4. Eldridge Armstrong II (two innings), Jacob Hasty, and Luke Cooper (an inning each) followed him.

Drewek and Helmig got the hosts’ only two extra bases hits, with a double apiece. Helmig, with three, and Almanza and Buggs, with two each, were the only B’s to have multi-hit games. The Range Riders accomplished a rarity for a Pioneer League team; they didn’t make any errors.

The Ballers made three, but it was their defense that sent the fans home satisfied. Casserilla seemed assured of a Texas League single or more when his pop up to short center, almost invisible in the poorly illuminated Bermuda Triangle in the area behind second base, befuddled almost the entire concurrence at Raimondi Field. But Baller left fielder Davis Drewek was on the ball. And then he was under it, making a sliding catch to put an end to another night of anxiety and excitement.

The next encounter of this seven game series will be a celebration of Juneteenth and scheduled to start at 6:35 Thursday evening.