Tag: Oakland Ballers

June 29 Follow the Bouncing Ballers: A review of this week’s Oakland Ballers

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Oakland Ballers were thrilled to get a victory over the Yuba City Firebirds on Sun Jun 28, 2026 at Raimondi Park in Oakland (Oakland Ballers photo)

June 29 Follow the Bouncing Ballers

Monday, June 29, 2026

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–Modesto, the home of the Ballers’newly minted regional rival in the South Division of the Pioneer Baseball League, has a long and honorable baseball tradition. Here’s a list of the professional teams, with their affiliations, that have called the city of health, wealth, and baseball 

Their home:

·       Modesto Reds (1946–1961)

o   Affiliations: St. Louis Browns, independent 

·       Modesto Colts (1962–1964)

o   Affiliations: Houston Colt .45s ]

·       Modesto Reds (1966–1974)

o   Affiliations: Kansas City Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals 

·       Modesto A’s (1975–2004)

o   Affiliations: Oakland Athletics 

·       Modesto Nuts (2005–2025)

o   Affiliations: Colorado Rockies, Seattle Mariners 

For most of that time, the California League, of which the variously named Modesto clubs were members member, bore the  rank of  High-A in the majors’ food chain.. It was demoted to just plain old A in 2021.  This had the effect of lowering the quality of minor league ball that fans from the East Bay could easily reach in San José and Stockton, as well as in Modesto, not to mention the quality of play available to local fans.  (Hang down your head, Bob Manfred.).

Here’s a link that lists some of the players who went from Stanislaus County to The Show:

. This poster may strike a nostalgic chord among old time Athletics fans.

The Roadsters play in what now is called Modern Woodman Field. Before that it was known as John Thurman Stadium, and, before that, Del Webb Field. It has a more spacious outfield with higher fences than Raimondi Park, and its winds generally are less favorable to long ball hitters than the ones that chill the air in West Oakland.21-1

In spite of this long baseball tradition and the Roadsters’ good won-lost record (21-15 as I write this), their attendance figures for the three game series with the B’s was 740, 625, and 853. Yes, the heat was extreme in Modesto, and it’s only a hop, skip, and a jump to West Sacramento (and you know what’s going on at Sutter Health Park) , but there are breezes are breezes at Modern Woodman Field, and the temperatures drop there  as the games progress or deteriorate, as the case may be.

Let’s start with the line score of the June 23rd contest.

Oakland Ballers (13-18)         005 000 003    8  12  0

Modesto Roadsters (18-13)     002 000 510   8   9    0

There was no winning or losing pitcher. Oakland won in the first round of the KO inning; Tremayne Cobb (5).

Tyler Williams (2)

Time: 3:40   Attendance 740

The series opener (or, if you prefer, the fourth game of the home and home series that the Roadsters took, two games to one, at Raimondi followed a familiar pattern. The visiting Oaklanders jumped to a 5-0 lead in the top of the third. Modesto cut that to 5-2 in their third turn at the plate. C.J. Blowers went six inning and allowed only two runs, both earned, on five hits while striking out five, but he walked another quintet and unleashed a wild pitch.  All in.all, it was a good—outstanding in the context of the PBL—performance, and well above the righty’s usually level, as realize that his in-game ERA of 3.00 lowered his season’s ERA to 7.79. Valek Cisneros took the mound to start the frame and left it with his team trailing its hosts, 7-5. Langston Burkett fanned the first batter he faced before allowing a game- tying single to right by Justin Boyd that plated the inherited runner, Jacob Lojewski.The Ballers won the knock out inning in the first round, Tremayne Cobb’s five blasts besting Tyler Williams’s two. No matter who wins these carnival side shows, the knock out inning is an abomination.

No Ballers hit a real home run, but Esai Santos , Jaden Collura , Jeter Ybarra , and Davis Drewek

hit doubles, and Jaden Collura, and Davis Drewek had three games, and T.J. McKendrick got a pair of singles.

Modesto knotted the series on the night of Wednesday the 24th.

Oakland Ballers (14-18)         200  100 000    3   6  0 

Modesto Roadsters (19-13)    012  100 02x    6  10 0

Winning pitcher: Devyn Hernández (1-0)   Losing pitcher: Aidan “Risse (0-1)   Save: Johan     Castillo (1)

Time:  2:25   Attendance: 625

The Ballers treated their starting pitcher, Aidan Reese to an early 2-0 lead thanks to Jake Allgeyer’s four bagger to center with Santos on base. (He had struck out swinging but reached first on a passed ball), but the Roadsters revved their engine and made it to home in once in the the second, twice in the third, and another time in the fourth. Risse didn’t come out to the mound at the start of the home eighth; by then he had thrown112 pitches, only 70 of them strikes. Remember that any ball a batter lays wood on is counted as a strike, no matter how much it misses the zone by. Yet Risse walked only one batter and didn’t throw any wild pitches or hit any batters. Six of the outs he recorded came on fly balls; eight on grounders. Deven Hernández, who also lasted seven frames, and Johan Castillo, who was untouched in the last two innings, condemned Oakland to another blown lead loss.

Allgeyer’s shot in the first was the only round tripper for the Ballers, and Drewek, with two singles, was the only member of the squad to garner more than one hit.

On Thursday the 25th, the Ballers were presented with a repeat of the dilemma they had faced the previous Sunday, back home in West Oakland, a rubber match. They lost that game, part of the growing pains of their revamped roster. They lost again on Thursday.

Oakland Ballers (14-19)         100 000 000    1  10  2

Modesto Roadsters (20-13)    310 010 10x    6  10  2

Winning pitcher: Omar Serrano (1-0)   Losing pitcher: Charlie Hurley (0-1)  

Time: 2:40   Attendance: 853

It was another exercise in frustration. With a game time temperature of a sweltering 890, number two batter Esai Santos blasted a 437 foot homer into the depths beyond right center field. I won’t say that the B’s offense stopped there, but it sure did stall They left ten men on base, not counting the play that ended the first frame for Oakland. After Jaden Collura rounded first on a single, a throw from right fielder Justin Boyd to short stop Jacob Lojewski nabbed the Baller catcher. The play was scored as a pick off. Oakland batters went 0-9 with runners in scoring position.

The loss was pinned on Charlie Hurley, a fine name for a pitcher. It certainly beats Walker, although Hurley issued four of them in his five innings on the bump. He was succeeded by Hunter Day, making his Ballers debut. Before Oakland acquired him, he had pitched for the independent American Association Fargo-Moorehead RedHawks. He held Modesto to two hits, one of them a double, and a walk in his one inning stint. Jacob Petersheim, who was unimpressive in his debut on June 21st, was somewhat better in this game; the run he allowed in his two inning stint was unearned.

Back at 10th Wood, on Friday the 26th the B’s didn’t have to contend with a game time temperature of 89, as they had to the night before in Modesto. When home plate umpire Tony  Pratercalled “Play” at 6:35, the thermometer read  64o.. Nor did the Miles’ Militia have to face the powerhouse Roadsters. Instead, they were up against the Yolo-Sutter Freebirds, bearers of an 11-22 record and standing two places behind the B’s in the South Division. They weren’t playing to a near empty ballpark, either. The opponents had changed, but the Ballers’ still were their own worst enemies, snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory after what could have been a comfortable, if not overwhelming, first inning advantage of six runs. But Yuba-Sutter scored in every inning but the first, and Oakland was shut out, starting in the third and lasting through the eighth.

The crowd  of 1,878  dwindled as ballers couldn’t get out of their own way. An emblematic example of that distressing tendency occurred in the top of the sixth when Colusa made a wild throw to first on what would have been an inning ending 5-2-3 double play. That twin killing that wasn’t d could have provided some impetus to the faltering B’s once notable ability to overcome as well as to throw away imposing leads. They had entered the inning trailing 10-9. They left it behind trailing 14-9.

Once again, the line score outlines the disappointing facts.

Yuba Sutter Freebirds (12-22)            024 134 121   18  18  3

Oakland Ballers (14-20)                     621 000 002   11  11  3

Winning pitcher: Sean Wiese (2-0)   Losing pitcher: Dylan Delvecchio (0-1)

Time: 3:45  Attendance: 1,878 

But the Ballers did manage to pull off a public relations triumph. They signed Liam Plunkett, a one time star of British cricket who now plays in Major League Cricket, a league that features a streamlined version of the tradition British sport. They were able to do this because of a wrinkle in the PBL’s eligibility rules that permits each team to carry one on its roster who isn’t likely to advance in professional baseball but whose presence there will be a box office draw.You’ve got to love the PBL and its idiosyncratic rules, even if the league is selective about telling you what they are.

June 27, 2026 was a Saturday, and that meant a 4:35 first pitch. I hopoe the line score will raise your spirits.

Yuba-Sutter Freebirds (12-23)           003  000 010   4   10  0

Oakland Ballers (15-28)                     100  100 03x   5    6   2

Winning pitcher: Michael Riley (2-1)   Losing pitcher: Corbin Barker (1-1) Save: Matthew Maloney (2)

Time: 2:36   Attendance: 1,921

The Ballers once more took an early lead, going ahead 1-0 in the first, only to give it up two innings later, when three Freebirds crossed the plate. But this time, the Ballers seemed to recover their 2025 mojo. Down 4-2 in after seven and a half innings, the Ballers had runners on first and second with one out against Brenton Thiels, who had relieved starter Chase Martínez an inning earlier. That caused Theis’s removal from the game brought Corbin Barker to the mound. He fanned Paul Winland on three pitches but walked Nick Lehey to clog the basepaths. Collura pinch hit for Davis Drewek. Collura drew a walk on a seven pitch  3-2 count,  bringing Ybarra, who had led off the inning with a single to center, home with the tying run and leaving the bases still FOB, Full of Ballers. Conner Smith whiffed, and there were two down. Cobb drew a walk, and Santos was hit by a pitch, which scored two runs and put the Ballers ahead, 5-4, before Allgeyer struck out to end the inning. 

Maybe something had clicked., because the Ballers came back to win Sunday’s 1:05 game with a ninth inning walk off that gave them the series and ended the week on a high note.

Yuba-Sutter Freebirds (12-24)   310 000 060   10   9 1

Oakland Ballers (16-20)             000 131 303   11 13 2

Winning pitcher: Valek Cisneros (3-0)   Losing pitcher: Tristan Wolf (1-2)

Time: 2:48   Attendance:1,844

Jeter Ybarra, who had been one of the few bright spots in the Ballers’ disappointing first months, had been in a bit of funk recently. His fielding was mediocre, and his failure of hustle on the basepaths was glaring. He might have been playing through pain, although I’m not aware of any announcement to that effect. Whatever it was that that was bothering him isn’t affecting him now. He went three for three on Sunday the 28th. He went three for five, with a double, a home run, and a home run., He still is the league leader in that category, with15.

It seemed as if the B’s had slipped back into their lead blowing sink hole when they had recovered from a 4-0 disadvantage by scoring a run in the fourth, three in the fifth, another in the sixth, and three more in the seventh. But the Freebirds surged ahead, 10-8 with a six spot in the top of the eight. But Oakland had some last minute heroics left in them and came from behind to win in walk off fashion in the bottom of the ninth with Ybarra leading the charge. He led off with a single to right, Brandan O’Sullivan pinch ran for him, which might have been a signal that something physical had kept the B’s first sacker from running all out in the recent past.. Or it might have just been good tactics, given the PBL’s designated pinch hitter and pinch runner rules. In any case, it was an unnecessary move because Winland walked, and  Leehey drove an 0-1 pitch over the fence in left center to send the B’s fans home happy. Maybe, just maybe, they’ve turned the corner.

News surface recently about a lawsuit against the city of Oakland and their tenants, the Ballers, brought by the Ajor Property Group, for damages to their facility at 1661 20th St. The plaintiffs claimed that balls hit out of Raimondi Park have caused them at least $350,000 since its renovation in 2024. The Ballers have replied that they will make good any costs to the city incurred by the suit and admits that some damage has occurred. The team also maintains that many of the claims made by Ajor have not been verified. The property in question is next to the Prescott Market, home of several pre- and post-game festivities. The Market also has indoor plumbing, which is important to Ballers’ fans because replacement of the current port-a-potties in the ballpark has been delayed because the city has yet to approve the installation of real rest rooms in the venue.

That’s about all I know about the case.

The Ballers face a tough schedule this coming week. They’ll travel to Long Beach to face the second place Coast on the 30th  through July 2nd. Then it’s back to Modesto for the rest of the week.

That’s all for now.

Lewis Rubman covers the Oakland Ballers for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Follow the Bouncing Ballers: Paddleheads steady scoring defeats Ballers 17-5 Tuesday at Raimondi

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Unlike Sun Jun 14, 2026 game against the Missoula Paddleheads where the Oakland Ballers launched a 23-11 hit campaign for the win. The Ballers lost to the Paddleheads Mon Jun 15, 2026 17-5 at Raimondi Park in Oakland (photo by the Oakland Ballers)

Monday, June15, 2026

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–There was a broken heart for every Baller lead or comeback during last week’s six game series against the Great Falls Voyagers, in which the mountain men mercilessly mauled Aaron Miles’ minions in each and every encounter. You could say that Kalispell, MT and environs was a Boulevard of Broken Dreams   . . . if, that is, there were any boulevards in that neck of the woods. Moving west to Missoula, also in Kansas, the B’s, who had lost two of the three games they played on May 21-23 to open the season against the champions of last year’s Mountain,—this year’s North— Division, hoped they could get some R and R before pursuing their quest for validation of their credentials. 

What they validated last Tuesday, the ninth, in Missoula’s Allegiance Park, the site of the opening fray of this week’s action, was their recent tendency to come from behind only to falter and fall further behind. The line score once more told the frustrating tale.

                                                                                R   H   E

Oakland Ballers (7-11)                 010 400 000      5    7    2

Missoula PaddleHeads (11-7)      350 220 32x     17    1    5

Winning pitcher: Reece Fields (3-1)    Losing pitcher: Langston Burkett (1-0)

Time: 3:16   Attendance: 1,368

The first pitch of the no-contest was delayed by three hours. In the famous words of Dizzy Dean, everyone involved “should’ve stood in bed.”  I also thought of Chico Marx’s classic progress report in Duck Soup, “Friday it rained all day, there was no ball game, so we stayed home, we listen to it over the radio.” If you’d like to experience Chico’s entire discourse, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmScynxUaa8

By now, many of you will have noticed, perhaps with exasperation, my twin penchants for playing Name That Tune and indulging in namefreakism, especially, of the bilingual sort. The Tuesday Night Massacre gave me a chance to indulge in these guilty pleasures.

Oakland’s tiny chance to stay alive in the top of the ninth ended when Nick Leehe flew out to Anthony Manisero in deep center field.  The combination of Manisero being Spanish for Peanut Vendor and the Marx Brothers rang a bell. In my 2011 doctoral dissertation, On the Poetry of Baseball, I had written, 

The rumba “El manisero” ‘The Peanut Vendor’ had enjoyed worldwide popularity for over a        decade when Humphries wrote “Polo Grounds.” In “El espantoso redentor Lazarus Morell” 

‘The Horrendous Redeemer Lazarus Morell’ (1935), Jorge Luis Borges lists the consequences

 of Bartolomé de las Casas’ successful advocacy of the importation of African slaves to the Americas in order to relieve the sufferings of the Caribbean Indians, an advocacy Borges calls

a “curiosa variación de un filántropo” ‘curious variation of a philanthropist .[….]’ One of those consequences was “la deplorable rumba El manisero” [….] The context of his list makes 

Borges’s choice of this example of the law of unintended consequences less heinous than it 

might otherwise seem. Still, it is interesting that he calls the song a rumba, the misnomer

under which a variety of Caribbean musical genres used to be grouped outside   of the Antilles. “

“ El  manisero” is a pregón ‘a vendor’s cry,’ a variety of the son.  This imprecision indicates the    

song’s acceptance outside its original audience. The Marx Brothers’ tossing of peanuts at the         

operagoers in A Night at the Opera as the orchestra breaks into “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,”       

may have been inspired by the way Antonio Machín opened the Orquesta Casino’s act at the

RKO Palace in New York, “throwing peanuts into the audience, singing ‘Maniiii . . . maniiii . . . ’”

The quotation was from Ned Siublette’s Cuba and its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo, published in 2004 by the Chicago ReviewPress.

Every time I hear that song, I think of that movie, especially of the last time a saw it.  That was in 1976 in the small Andalusian town of Arcos de la Frontera. The dialogue had been dubbed into Spanish, and I think that my wife and I were the only people in the theater who understood the relation between the music and the mimed ball game that wrought havoc in the filmic orchestra pit.

If you’d like to read more of my dissertation, you can find it at academia.edu. 

You can find a video of the first New York performance of “El manisero” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkiJh3y7e2w. Note how Antonio Machín’s tossing of peanuts to the audience prefigures the chaos triggered by Harpo’s slipping the score of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” onto the music stands of the orchestra in  A Night at the Opera.

You can find a video of the Marxist musical mayhem at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1djDThK8e4

I think you’ll get a kick out of both performances.

I also was amused by the coincidence that Allegiance Park is one of the few, if not the only, minor league venue that does not have a beer batter. The good burghers of Missoula celebrate the Peanut Inning, in which fans receive a free bag of peanuts if the PaddleHeads score in the sixth.

The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Oaktown Nine the next day, either. Wednesday the tenth in Missoula’s neck of the woods featured temperatures in the mid to low 50s and occasional rain. This, combined with the Ballers recent troubles, help explain the despondency with which Raimondi Rooters followed the action on their various cyber devices.

Under normal circumstances, the seven runs the Ballers scored in the initial frame would have been encouraging, but it wasn’t particularly so in the context of their great falls

from grace in the previous week. C.J. Blowers started on the mound for the B’s. His name and the team’s are pronounced ‘Blau-ers” and “Ball-ers,” but it was hard not to hear mental echoes of “Blow-ers” and “Blow-ers.”

Sure enough, the game almost went down to the wire. The PaddleHeads had runners on second and third with two down in the home ninth and the Ballers needed a spiffy backhard grab and throw from behind second base by Esai Santos to nab Michael Koszewski at first for the final out.

This time, the line score reflected a disaster … averted. 

                                                                               

Oakland Ballers (7-12)                720 203 300      17  20    1

Missoula PaddleHeads (12-7)      131 141 010     12  18    2

Winning pitcher: Liam Rocha (1-0)         Losing pitcher: Thomas Resinger (1-2)

Time: 3:16   Attendance: 868

The Ballers went on to gain their first back to back road wins of the year when they thumped the PaddleHeads on Thursday, the eleventh. 

                                                                                   

Oakland Ballers (8-12)                  402  004 020       12 11 0   

Missoula PaddleHeads (12-8)        401 000 200         7   9  1

Winning pitcher: Derek Murphy (1-1) Losing pitcher: Brendan Beard (5-3)

Time: 3:09 Attendance: 1,512 

As the line score indicates, the B’s, sparked by Tremayne Cobb’s leadoff 466 foot homer, jumped off to any early lead. But Ballers fans know enough by now not to jump to any conclusions on the basis of a productive early inning, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that starting pitcher Joel Torenero coughed up four runs with the 40 pitches he threw in the two thirds of an inning he lasted before being yanked. Those runs came on one hit and six walks, which allowed Missoula to knot the score at four all.

Several Ballers provided reasons for optimism that the team was putting its act together. These included

·      Noah Blyths two extra base hits, an opposite field three run four bagger to right center in the initial frame and a double to right in the sixth  

·      Davis Drewek’s two home runs.

·      Two more B’s, Tremayne Cobb and Cam Bufford, cleared the fences.

·      Cam Bufford’s 421 foot homer in the sixth with two B’s on base

·      Derek Murphy, who hadn’t looked good up til now, gained his first pro win, with 2-2/3 innings of effective, if not outstanding, relief.

·      Michael Riley’s 3-1/3 frame stint in relief of Murphy, while also not outstanding, atoned for his horrendous start against Great Falls on the seventh (Remember that nine runner third inning?)

·      The top of the third, in which three different Ballers hit two baggers. They were Esai Santos, Jaden Collura, and Jeter Ibarra. 

·      Braydon Nelson earned his second save in as many days. The B’s hadn’t been having too many save opportunities, much less successful ones, reently.

Game time on Friday the 12th in Missoula was windy, a portent of the winds of change that soon would blow away the Ballers’ nascent optimism.


After a rocky opening frame, in which Aidan Rissse surrendered two runs on three hits, a walk, and a balk to the home team, the Ballers took a 3-2 lead that seemed secure after five and a half innings of play. But then the Oakland brains trust decided to change pitchers. The change was necessary, but it had awful consequences. In that bottom half of the sixth, everything changed, changed utterly. Well, not quite everything; one stubborn fact was immutable: when hostilities ceased, the Ballers still had three runs to their credit. The PaddleHeads had 15. That’s not a misprint; check the numbers for yourself.

                                                                              

Oakland Ballers (9-12)                  000 300 000    3   7  1

Missoula PaddleHeads (12-9)        200 009 40x   15  9  0

Winning pitcher: Jarren Jackson (1-­2)        Losing pitcher} Aidan Risse (1-1)

Time: 2:53   Attendance: Not1,425 (estimated)

Our boys plated their trio of tallies on a one out single to right by Noah Blythe, who moved into scoring position on Jaren Jackson’s wild pitch. Jaden Collura’s single to center drove Blyth home. Collura went to second on Cam Bufford’s safety to center.   Bufford moved up 90 feet and Collura crossed the plate on Nick Leehey’s two bagger to right. Nick Poss’s sac fly to center platted Bufford. That was the Ballers’ last hurrah.

The fatidic home sixth is painful to relate. With one out, Risse issued full count walks to Xavier Casserilla and Tyler Stone. C.J. Dean’s single to left center moved both of them up a notch, loading the bases. A four pitch free pass to Michael Koszewski tied the score and left the basepaths filled with Paddleheads (a type of fish, in case you wondered where the nickname came from). At this point, Campbell Spradling replaced Risse. This was followed by an RBI single to right by Joskar Feliciano, an RBI walk to Jeremy Platkiewciz, a wild pitch that allowed Koszewski to score and advanced the two remaining runners. Will Bermúdez drove them in with a single to right.

That ended Spradling’s ill fated efforts. His 23 pitches failed to achieve a single out, and he was charged with five runs, three of them earned, on three hits, a walk, two wild pitches, and a hit batter. He gave way to Jake Tirk who “held” the PaddleHeads to four earned runs, all earned on two hits, a half a dozen passports to first, and a wild pitch over the next 1-1/3 innings.

With apologies to Damn Yankees!, I don’t have the heart to continue the chronicle of this meltdown inning from hell.

 

The PaddleHeads weren’t through abusing Oakland’s pitching. They got to Jake Kirk for four runs, all earned ,in the seventh, but you could hardly call what was happening by then significant. The only Baller who was unscathed on the mound was outfielder Damien Stone. He pitched 1-1/3 innings, faced five batters, throwing 14 pitches, and allowing but one Missoulian to reach base, Joskar Feliciano, whom he walked in the eighth.

The original title of Gone With the Wind was Tomorrow is Another Day. That’s an ambiguous expression; it can mean “we’ll have another chance tomorrow,” but it’s not a predictor of success. The B’s were successful in winning Saturday’s set-to , but their troubling tendency to falter hadn’t disappeared. If there had to be a theme song for the game’s opening innings, it would have been “I Hear You Knocking, But You Can’t Come In.” But when the final out was recorded, “Just in Time” wouldn’t have been out of place. Nor would that old standby, “Three Blind Mice,” although the arbiters of on the bases didn’t seem to have had much trouble doing their job. In any case, the Ballers had taken the series lead at 3-2 and had a chance to wind up their visit to Big Sky Country on a high note.

The name of the winning pitcher, Charlie Hurley, is matches his job title. It sure beats Walker. The Sacramento native, who toiled last year for Myrtle Beach, the Chicago Cubs’ class A affiliate in the Carolina League, now is 1-1, 11.37, in three starts. As a Baller.

                                                                          

Oakland Ballers (9-13)              000 301 121    8  11   0

Missoula PaddleHeads (13-9)   000 100 040    5    4   5

Winning pitcher: Charlie Hurley (1-0)      Losing pitcher: Ryan Wentz

Time: 3:03      Attendance: 2,817

The Ballers managed to clinch the series in Sunday’s afternoon’s resounding 23 -11 trashing of the PaddleHeads, a game that nonetheless did little to alleviate concern about the B’s pitching and its tendency to squander comfortable leaders, if there is such a thing in the Pioneer Baseball League. 

Since I’ve been nominating theme songs for the last few encounters, I’ll suggest a slight variation of Ring Lardner’s wisecrack about the 1919 World Serie” for Sunday’s blowout that never really felt safe. It’s “I’m forever blowing big leads.” It’s hard to worry about not holding on to leads when you win by 12 runs, but when you realize that after four and half innings—half way through the game—the Ballers were up by 16 runs, you can’t feel much confidence in their relievers. In this bullpen game, the opener, Campbell Spraudling, and Matt Lozovoy, who followed him and was credited with the win, pitched a combined 4-2/3 innings and allowed five runs, all earned. Derek Murphy, Matthew Maloney, and Liam Rocha, the trio that carried on until the final out, pitched 4-1/3 frames between them and surrendered six runs, all earned, on nine hits. Only Rocha, in his 1-1/3 inning intervention, was unscored upon, and he gave up two hits. The Ballers’ bats saved their bacon and left the PaddleHeads singing the blues. That’s part of the excitement of Pioneer League baseball., hidden in the line score of the Ballers’ most recent battle royal.

                                                                               

Oakland Ballers (10-13)                401  761 400   23 29  2

Missoula Paddleheads (13-10)      020  033 120   11 14  2

Winning pitcher: Matt Lozovoy (1-0)    Losing pitcher: Luke Wechsler (1-1)

Time: 3:50   Attendance: 1,397)

There’s no rest for the weary. Ballers were scheduled to catch a 7:00 o’clock flight to Seattle this morning and, after a lay over there, move on to OAK, and then to their bay area digs for some well needed shuteye. All this before they set about girding their loins for a three game series against the league leading Long Be\ach Coast. Game time for Tuesday the sixteenth is 6:35. You can watch the game for as little as $2.00 and also participate in a Celebraation of Cal. The first 750 fans through the gates will receive a Scrappy & Oski drawstring backpack. There will be limited-edition Blue & Gold Ballers caps available for purchase.

Day games after night games are the bane of the people who work in the baseball grind.  First pitch of the second game Ballers-Coast series is set for 1:05.       It’s Parks & Rec  Day, and the  B’s remind you that “if you need a reason to sneak off to the Ballpark, Dr. Scrappy will write you a note this one last time.”  The first 750 fans through the gates receive a championship belt pin.

It’s back to 6:35 for the wrap up confrontation with the Coast. On Thursday. That will be Little League Day.  The first 750 fans will get a beaded ecklace with a Scrappy medallion. Adults can enjoy the510 Happy Hour, with $5.00 Fieldwork beers and $10 cocktails from the time the gates open until first pitch is thrown.

The Modesto Roadsters, with Captain J.T; Snow at the helm, will heave into town on  Friday. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Oakland Ballers report:  Follow The Bouncing Ballers Jun 1-8 coverage

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Oakland Ballers battled the Red Pocket Mobiles (Oakland Ballers X ;photo)

Jun 1st through 8th coverage

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–There was reason to feel that the Ballers, having swept a six game series at home against the hapless RedPocket Mobiles were on a roll as they left for a 12 game tour of the North (previously known as the Mountain) Division of the Pioneer Baseball League. Those half a dozen wins had evened the defending circuit’s defending champs’ season record at 6-6.

They were on a roll, all right, but it was downhill, at least for their three encounters with the Glacier Range Riders, who play in the beautiful Glacier Bank Park in Kalispell, MT, just outside of  Whitefish, which is, if it hasn’t changed since I was there some 30 years ago, a one horse town version of Las Vegas without the glitz, notable for its bars and gambling parlors.

After the Ballers put Kalispell in their rear view mirror, they had begun to experience a modicum of success. But when the team left Grand Rapids and headed for Missoula following yesterday’s frustrating defeat, the Miles Militia was ninth in the 12 team PBL’s standings. Only the 1-7 RedPocket Mobiles trailed them in the six team South Division.

The road weary Ballers and manager Aaron Miles would have quite some time and distance toto go before they can sleep easy. Avenging the 2-1 series defeat Missoula’s Paddleheads handed them in the opening series at Riamondi will be a tough order to fill. Remember that the Ballers won the 2026 league title by beating the PaddleHeads in the final three games, played in Oakland, after Mousoula had won the two games played on their home turf.

I don’t know which was more dispiriting, the first two mismatches, in which the Oaklanders were clobbered from  start to finish or the final encounter of the series, when, after two thrilling comebacks, the B’s went into the bottom of the ninth with a four run advantage, only to blow the lead when T.J. McKenzie dropped Tommy Rover’s two out fly in deep center field, and then lose the knockout round on a last second home run by the Glaciers Jake Millan in the first round. 

The ugly line scores of the Tuesday and Wednesday games give you all you need to know about the poor accounting the Ballers gave of themselves.  On Tuesday, the rough Range Riders rode over the Ballers in the first frame, plating six earned runs against Joel Tornero, who gave up six walks to the eight Glacier batters he faced and hitting another. His replacement, Michael Riley, staved off the hosts for four innings, but the damage had been done and was irreparable.

                                                                                R    H   E

Oakland Ballers (6-7)             100 001 000             2     8   0

Glacier Range Riders (10-3)   600 002 00x             8     4   0    

Winning pitcher: Evan Langston (2-0)     Losing pitcher Joel Tornero (0-1)

Time: 2:37   Attendance: 1,516

Wednesday’s line score reads like the summary of a horror story.

                                                                              R    H   E

    Oakland Ballers (6-8)                001 000 000   1      6   1

Glacier Range Riders (11-3)    500 070 01x        13   11   0

Winning pitcher: Jared Engman (1-0)    Losing pitcher: Derek Murphy (0-2)

Time: 2:50    Attendance: 1,553

The Thursday game merits a bit more detail., but before I comment on it, I’d like to say a few parenthetical words on the knockout round, a rule the Pioneer League uses to decide what used to be extra inning contests. The procedure, on which the PBL prides itself, is a home run derby. Lots of fans enjoy watching batting practice; many arrive early to watch it, some in hopes of snagging a ball; others, as amateur scouts. 

 MLB’s All Star Week home run derby is a fan favorite, but neither batting practice nor the home run derby decides the outcome of a game. Who wants to watch nine innings of tight, exciting baseball only to hang around for what boils down to post game BP to determine the winner? The only answer I can think of is gamblers. I don’t think it’s entirely coincidental that MLB is thinking of installing the Knock Out Round (the Pioneer League’s name for this crap shoot) to settle ties in the  all star games and that Las Vegas will be the new home of the now floundering Nomad Athletics.

The line score and all the action it summarizes are what go into the cumulative team and individual statistics. Only the deciding action is omitted. The derby information is recorded under its own label, available on the league’s website. 

Here’s the line score of the Baller’s near miss in  Kalispell:

                                                                              R   H  E

Oakland Ballers (6-9)                    000 120 010    10   11  1

Glacier Range Riders (11-3)          300 003 004    10   13  0        

Time: 3:20    Attendance: 1,851. No winning or losing pitcher. Glacier won in KO round. Oakland: Cobb 3 HR. Glacier: Millan, 4 HR

After a four hour bus ride to Grand Falls, which got them there at around noon on Friday, the fifth, the B’s lost no time in jumping to a 13-4 lead after 4-1/2 innings. You’d think a lead like that would be enough to end the Ballers’ frustrations. But that would be true only if you didn’t understand one basic fact about the Pioneer League: no lead is safe. Ever. That’s part of what makes the league fun. It’s also a reason why it can be exasperating.

Grand Rapids countered Oakland’s midgame dominating  nine run advantage, with a little help from the blew (I mean “blue”) crew, a run in the bottom of the fifth and continuing to score in each of the remaining four frames. A trio of Voyager pitchers held the B’s scoreless the rest of the way.  Catcher Nick Poss’s performance was a painful highlight for the Oaklanders, not just because of his three run homer in the third, but alsofor the  pluck he displayed by remaining in the game in spite of  injuries to one of his feet, his groin, and another to, I believe, his hamstring. I’ll add as an aside that Poss was a part of Aaron Miles’ managerial legerdemain  in the previous night’s game, when the Ballers’ skipper juggled the PBL’s rules on designated  pinch hitters and the designated hitter rule to call on pitcher Matt Lozovoy to pinch hit in the top of the ninth, when the B’s still held seemingly secure four run lead. I’m not being sarcastic; it was a smart move at the time.

    Oakland Ballers (6-10)                                 125 230 000        13  20    1 

    Great Falls Voyagers (12-4)                         040 012 214        14  17    0

As I’ve often mentioned recently, the purpose of the Pioneer League’s partnership with Major League Baseball is to provide players for the big league organizations. Tyler Davis, who started five games and pitched one in relief for the 2024 Ballers, ended that season with a record of 0-0-1, 1.29. He’s already made The Show. He was 2-2-1, 3. as a reliever for the Chicago White Sox, but after losing yesterday, Sunday the 7th, to the Phillies, his record stood at 2-3-1, 4.43. Before the start of Saturday’s game in Great Falls, the B’s announced the bittersweet news that the Pale Hose had purchased Gabe Tanner’s contract. As I write this, I haven’t had any news about  to which team the Cal State East Bay graduate been assigned.

On the field Saturday, the news was that, even though the Boys from West Oakland blew a 12-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth, they recovered, scored a couple of runs in the top of the ninth, and held on to defeat the Voyagers, 14-12. It’s much more pleasant to record the line score of this contest  than it’s been at any other time since the start of the Ballers’ current foray into Montana.

                                                                                            R H E

Oakland Ballers (7-10)                                101 402 402   14 17 13

Great Falls Voyagers (5-12)                        002 201 160   12 12   1

Winning pitcher: Valek Cisneros (1-0)  Losing pitcher: Kevin Worek (0-1) Save: Matthew Maloney (1)

Time: 3:45   Attendance: 1,037

The game, played under steadily increasing rain, broke Oakland’s four game losing streak and gave them any opportunity to win their first road series of the nascent season. But they once more snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory.


In any case, it would have been an extremely difficult victory. The Ballers’ punishing schedule since leaving their home grounds was made worse by a planned game time of 11:35, which then was pushed back to 2:30. They, as the famed radio announcer Dizzy Dean put it, “shoulda stood in bed.” The situation echoed Chico Marx’s lines in Duck Soup, “It rained all day. There was no ball game, so we stayed home. We listen to it over the radio.” 

The line score also resembled an earlier artifact, a table from a clinical study of bipolar disorder.

                                                                                   R  H  E

Oakland Ballers (7-11)           320 013 304               16 10  1

Great Falls Voyagers (6-12)   019 020 24X               18 18 1

Winning pitcher: Emir Sepúlveda (2-0)    Losing pitcher:Jake Tirk (0-2)

Time:3:10   Attendance: 644

This tear your hair and chew your nails display the fickle middle finger of not only began with an echo of the Minnie Marx’s sons, it ended with one.

With two down in the top of the ninth, Jaden Collura worked a walk that brought Noah Blythe to plate, representing the potential tying run. He lifted a fly that reached the center field wall, where it landed in the glove of Anthony Manisero, whose family name means peanut vendor. Groucho sings and whistles the song of that name throughout Duck Soup.  You also might get a kick out of video of its original presentation at New York’s Roxy Theater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2UU33oJY5g.

I haven’t been able to find the season statistics for all the players on the Baller roster, but what follows are the stats for those who participated in yesterday’s tragicomedy:

1BJeter Ybarra       .296
3BJake Allgeyer       .375
DHCam Bufford       .196
CJaden Collura       .364
RF/LFNoah Blythe       .347
CFDavis Drewek       .240
T.J. McKenzie       .250
LFDamian Stone       .208
2BNick Leehey       .250
         
         
Oakland BallersPitchers
PitchersIPHRERBBSOHRWPBFABNPERA
Michael Riley2.1899213017145312.27
Derek Murphy3.2233230018137411.17
Jake Tirk (L, 0-2)1.05330200772613.50
Campbell Spradling1.0333110076257.04

So, where does this leave us as they Ballers try to get some sleep and redemption and we try to get our bearings as the upcoming six games in Missoula? You tell me.

Oakland Ballers game recap: Follow the Bouncing Ballers

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Oakland Ballers pitcher Aidan Risse (1-1) delivers a pitch against the Red Rocket Mobiles at Raimondi Field in West Oakland Sun May 31, 2026 (Oakland Ballers photo)

Monday, June 1

Oakland, CA

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–In last week’s column, I discussed some of the challenges the Oakland Ballers and the Pioneer Baseball League as a whole were facing. The last week has thrown those challenges into sharper relief.

The league’s decision to save on travel expenses resulted in scheduling anomalies. Instead of playing a set of six game against each visitor, with night games Tuesday through Friday, a mid-afternoon game on Saturday, and an early afternoon contest on Sunday, the Ballers opened the season with a three game series against the Missoula PaddleHeads, the team they had defeated for last year’s championship, three games to two, by sweeping the final three games, all at home, of the five game series.. This year, Missoula took the series, 2-1, which began on Tuesday Mayo 19

On Frida the 22nd, some of the new kids on the block, the Long Beach Coast, came to West Oakland. The B’s came from behind with a 12-11 victory after having trialed 10-9 going into the eighth. Jeter Ybarra’s leadoff blast over the left field fence in the bottom of the ninth tied it up, and T.J. McKenzie’s sacrifice fly to center gave Oakland the win, evening their record at 2-2.

The teams split the last two games of the week. The Coast beat them, 15-12 on a four run top of the ninth in a seesaw battle on Saturday the 23rd, and the Ballers finished the week at 3-3 with a solid 11-5 triumph the next afternoon.

This raised an interesting question. The Coast (who also go by the moniker  “Regulators”) and the Ballers had another three games between them scheduled for the following week. Would this be part of the original series or a new one? This is not an idle question, and one  reason it was a new series shows how significant the question was.

The Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday contests had a different umpire crew from the three preceding game. Another reason to consider the trio of set-to’s a group of its own is the headline the Coast published in its May 28 recap. Read it and weep.

                      Grand Beginning Leads Coast to Series Sweep

                     The Long Beach Coast (6-3) blasted the OaklandBallers (3-6) 9-5

                     on Thursday night in the Bay Area to secure their first ever series

                     sweep                           .


The situation was made more unsettling by scheduling the Wednesday game, usually played at 6:35), for a 1:05 start to accommodate an Oakland Public Schools field trip.

Hardly a student was at sight among the intimate gathering of 1,122 attendees.

Thursday, the 29th, brought in another innovation: the RedPocket Mobiles, owned by the PBL’s cel phone provider. They’re a barnstorming team with no home stadium and, I assume a miniscule fan base. They also have a miniscule won-lost record. They were 1-8 when they hit town and 1-11 when the Ballers, now 6-6, got through with them.

This happy outcome for Ballers’ fans wasn’t just the result of the Mobiles weakness. Please bear with me while I try to relate the Ballers’ current situation to the challenges and shortcomings of the Pioneer League.

The circuit’s  labyrinthine  eligibility rules not only penalize successful teams by limiting the amount of time they can keep any given player (which is consistent with the PBL’s purpose, which is to develop players), but also fail to provide compensation to those teams that lose players who are—for want of a better expression—termed out. Each year is, as it were, a whole new ball game.  This may mean that the Ballers’ marketing plan. which includes merited bragging rights about the team’s championship status, may be misplaced.

There’s much to be enjoyed about Ballersball, but winning isn’t everything. It’s not even not caring if you won or lost but how you played the game; it’s about community, fun, and watching the players mature and improve. And don’t forget the innate beauty of the game, no matter on what level it’s played. And a whole lot more.The Ballers and their followers may have to learn to live with defeat. Remember, I said “may.”

The team’s management has made some moves to improve its personnel. They obtained  Cam Bufford, a mainstay of the ’25 Ballers is heading back to his championship roots. Just six days into the Pioneer League season, the Sioux City Explorers have traded 1B/DH Cam Bufford to Oakland in exchange for players to be named later.

Pitchers Matt Lozovoy and UC Berkeley’s Michael Riley, as well as center fielder and third baseman Davis Drewek made their professional debuts on Sunday afternoon. Drewek took fa called third strike as a pinch hitter in the ninth. Lozovoy surrendered two hits but no runs in the eighth, and Riley gave up one hit, a home run, in the ninth.

The Ballers have improved the ballyard’s physical plant. The scoreboard has been improved; it’s now bigger and brighter,  but often is too far behind action, and some of its fonts are too small to be read, especially through the protective screens in front of all but the cheapest seats.

The B’s currently are building higher fence in left center and the outfield lighting could be improved. Permit issues have delayed an important improvement, the installation of real toilets to replace the port-a-potties, which will come as a much needed relief.

Here’s a brief rundown of the scores of the Ballers first sweep of the season:

5/29123456789RHE
RedPocket Mobiles010100000262
Oakland Ballers01100010X35

Winning pitcher: Langston Burkett (1-0) Save: Braydon Nelson (1)

Losing pitcher: Billy Rozakis (0-1)

The team will be on the road for the next two weeks, visiting the Glacier Range Riders,

Great Falls Voyagers, and Missoula PaddleHeads, before returning on Tuesday, June 16th, to the friendly confines of Raimondi Park, to try to wreck some vengeance on the Long Beach Coast.

5/30

    
RedPocket Mobiles020100120690
Oakland Ballers11202110X8130

Winning pitcher: Gabe Tanner (2-1) Save: Langston Burkett (1)

Losing pitcher: Matt Lauria (0-2)

Tanner lasted 7-2/3 innings and threw 111 pitches. It was, alas!, the best outing of a Ballers hurler so far this season. 

5/31123456789RHE
RedPocket Mobiles000000001190
Oakland Ballers10011400X780
             
             

Winning pitcher: Aidan Risse (1-1)

Losing pitcher: Charlie Adamson (0-3)

You can find the Ballers latest individual offensive statistics at https://www.oaklandballers.com/sports/bsb/2026/teams/oaklandballers?view=lineup

I haven’t been able to find all their pitching stats in one place.

The Ballers are averaging a respectable  2,295 attendance in their 12 games.

And that’s how the ball’s been bouncing so far.

Oakland Ballers Report: Follow the bouncing Ballers

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Oakland Ballers Cam Buford tunes up before a game at Raimondi Park in West Oakland (photo by Oakland Ballers X)

Monday, May 25, 2026

Oakland, CA

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–The first week of the 2026 Pioneer Baseball League was an inauspicious one for the defending champion Oakland Ballers, who managed nothing better than a 3-3 record, losing two out of three games against last year’s Mountain Division champs, the Missoula Paddle Heads and just squeaking by the Long Beach Coast, newcomers to the South Division and the league, also three games to two.

Both the league and the Ballers faced challenges before play began, but we’ll get to that after a brief review of the on-field action.

The Padddleheads demolished the B’s, 11-2 on opening night, Tuesday, the 19th, going ahead when Michael Koszewski blasted a one and two pitch over the left field wall to give the Montanans a lead they never would lose.

Jake Tirk was the only hometown hurler to blank the invaders, whoops: visitors, holding the seven batters he faced in the eighth and ninth frames to a couple of hits and a walk. Starting pitcher Gabe Tanner, who allowed six runs, five earned, on nine hits and three free passes, took the loss.

Shortstop Tremayne Cobb and catcher Jarden’ Collura were the only Ballers with multiple hits, neither for extra bases. The defense committed three errors, to none for the Paddleheads, but only one of the Missoula tallies was earned.

The Ballers evened the series the next night with a convincing, but not overwhelming, victory, seesawing through four and a half innings before breaking three with a five run

bottom of the fifth and then scamper home with a 13-8 triumph. Cobb got three hits, all singles, as did centerfielder T.J. McKenzie, whose three for three night included a round tripper and half a dozen RBI. I’ll have more to say about manager Aaron Miles’ use of McKenzie when we get to the challenges and solutions section of this column.

Switch hitting Jake Allgeyer was the remaining B’s batter to log a mult-hit performance. First baseman Jeter Ybarra had a bad night, going 0-5 at the plate and committing the Ballers’ only error. Liam Rocha, who relieved Aidan Risse in the fourth and surrendered two runs, one of them earned, on two hits, while walking another pair of batters, in his three innings on the mound, got the win.

Missoula mauled their hosts in the series finale on Thursday, the 21st almost as badly as they had in the opener. The PaddleHeads crossed the plate twice in first and were ahead, 8-0, by the time the Oaklanders managed their first tally, a sole run, in the bottom of the seven. The final score was 12-4. The visitors score their dozen runs with a baker’s dozen of hits and made three errors. Oakland their quartet of tallies on an octet hits while committing a duet of errors. Esai Santos drove in half of Oakland’s runs with a two homer with Cobb on base in the bottom of the ninth. Nick Bautista, who lasted only 2-2/3 innings, took the loss.

The worm began to turn for the West Oakland Wonders when the Long Beach Coast,

 AKA Regulators, sporting their teal jerseys and pinstriped black pants, came to town on Friday, the 22nd. It took an anxiety ridden three hours and thirty-two minutes before McKenzie’s sacrifice fly to center brough Jake Allgeyer home with the tie breaking winning run in the bottom of the ninth, giving us a line score that looked like this:

123456789RHE
Long Beach Coast24040000111101
                    Oakland Ballers0300141031291
             

Santos, Ybarra, and left fielder Damian Stone went yard, and Jaden Sheppard, the DH, Stone, right fielder Noah ‘Blythe lifted the fans’ spirits with a run batted in apiece, Santos drove in threeand Ybarra five. Santos, Ybarra, and McKenzie were the only Ballers to get more than one hit, with two each; Sheppard, Stone, and Nick Poss, Friday night’s catcher, accounted for the remainder. Braydon Nelson was credited with the win, in spite of giving up a leadoff four bagger that put Long Beach ahead 11-8 in the top of the ninth.

The Ballers’ half of the inning is worth telling in some detail. Right hander Zach Voelker left the bull pen to replace fellow righty Mason Bryant, who had pitched a scoreless eighth. Ybarra greeted him with an 0-1 fence clearer to right, That cut LB’s lead to 11-9. Collura. the B’s usual catcher, pinch hit for Sheppard and walk on a full count. Exit Voelker, enter Steven Odorica, another righty. He threw a wild pitch to Stone, both runners moving up 90 feet. Stone then walked on a 3-1 count, clogging the base paths. Blythe received another 3-2 passport, tying the score at 11.

We were all set for a repeat performance in Saturday’s mid-afternoon showdown. We got one, but with a painful variation. Take a look at the first eight innings of theline score, then look at the ninth and weep. The only detail I have to add—and it nearly breaks my heart to do so—is that Oakland was ahead, 12-11, with two down and two on in the top of the ninth. David Clarke had an 0-2 count pitching to Cooper Vest. The crowd stood up, ready to celebrate another nerve shattering victory. Then Vest cleared the left field fence with a blast that put his team ahead. There really was nothing left in the Ballers’ tank. It had been an exciting game until then, but not a well played one; AI had labeled my notes as “misplay x misplay.”

But the indominatable Ballers snapped back on Sunday, the 24th

It wasn’t pretty, but it was satisfying. Oakland jumped to a 2-0 lead in the initial frame but quickly fell behind 4-2 in the second. They knotted the score at four in their half of the inning and went ahead, 5-4 in the third. Long Beach knotted it up again in the top of the fourth but didn’t score again all afternoon. Gene Tanner held on through six to even his record at 1-1, and the Ballers took the series, two games to one to even their season mark at 3-3.Damian Stone broke the tie with a two run dinger over the left center field fence in the home fifth. McKenzie’s two bagger in the same episode brought Blythe home to give the B’s a lead they never relinquished. He went home with a BA of .391 and 10 RBI over the season’s half dozen games. One inning later, Alleger smacked a three run four bagger, and the game was as good as over. And when it was over, the B’s had won,11-5, and had evened their season’s mark at 3-3.

The Ballers ended the 2025 post season with the best won and lost record in the history of the history of the Pioneer Baseball League or its predecessor, the rookie level Pioneer League, a member of Minor League Baseball (MiLB), a subsidiary of the tolerated monopoly, Major League Baseball (MLAB). An MiLB team can retain a player as long as he wants to if the team’s parent club in the MLB doesn’t object. Under the byzantine eligibility rules of the PBL, it’s a whole new ball game. Here’s how the PBL’s website summarizes it:

The players on a Member Club’s Active Roster shall have completed no more than two (2) prior years of professional baseball experience (as defined below) as of January 1st in a season’s calendar year.

Any player who is within four (4) years of their high school graduation class year shall not have any professional service time count against their eligibility. Professional service time accrued during this initial four (4) year period is exempt and shall not be applied retroactively once the player passes the four-year mark. Only service time earned after the four (4) year anniversary of the player’s high school graduation class year shall be calculated toward the two-year limit of prior professional experience. For purposes of calculating prior seasons of professional baseball experience, after the four (4) year mark of their high school graduation class year, a year of professional experience is defined as follows:

POSITION PLAYERS – 30 games played STARTING PITCHERS – 7 games started PITCHERS – 18 games played

Professional experience includes previous play in all professional leagues, domestic or international, but does not include the MLB draft league, Arizona Complex League (ACL), Florida Complex League (FCL), the United Shore Professional Baseball League, the Mavericks Independent Baseball League, nor leagues in the Caribbean Federation, the Australian Baseball League or any other leagues that might become “winter ball” leagues. FRANCHISE PLAYERS

Clubs may designate one Franchise Position Player and one Franchise Pitcher per season, subject to the following requirements:

Player must have completed at least one (1) prior year in the PBL. A “year” is defined in accordance with the then applicable service time definitions of the PBL rules. If a Club loses a Franchise Player to injury or transfer to an MLB club, the Club may request permission from the League President to replace such player with another qualified Franchise Position Player or Franchise Pitcher. Such a request shall be made to the President in writing setting forth the circumstances involved. The President shall promptly decide, in his sole discretion, whether to approve or disapprove the request after considering the circumstances. ROSTER LIMITS

No member Club shall have more than 24 players on their Active Roster at any time, nor less than 22, except that a club may add a 25th player who (i) has been drafted at the conclusion of any PBL Tryout Camp, over whom the drafting team has exclusive signing rights from the draft until 21 days after opening day; or (ii) has registered and attended any PBL Tryout Camp occurring in a current league year, including: the previous season’s midseason and post-season drafts, and the current season’s pre-season and midseason draft.

This has made the Ballers’ goal of repeating their breath taking achievement of 2025 much more difficult than if they had been in an MLB affiliated league, as opposed to a not so distant partner league. Only seven players who were with the B’s in 2025 opened 2026 on the team’s roster. They include T.J. McKenzie, whom manager Aaron Miles has placed in the ninth spot in the batting order. This fairly unusual alignment makes a lot of sense. It’s reasonable to assume that at least eight batters will have made a plate appearance in the first three innings, especially in a league not noted for its pitching strength. This makes it highly likely that the number nine hitter will make his first plate appearance with at least one runner on base. In effect, the Ballers could have an extra cleanup batter.

Other goals for the B’s include breaking even financially. To do this, they have enhanced and expanded the stadium giveaway and promotion schedules. They’re too long to list here, but you can find them on http://www.oaklandballers.com.

The PBL itself is facing financial challenges. Economic uncertainty has cut into attendance, and inflation has made the cost of travel prohibitive. The league is dealing with this by realigning its divisions, adding new franchises and dropping old ones, and limiting interdivisional travel.

I, too, am facing challenges. Health and mobility problems prevent me from frequent coverage of Giants and Ballers home games. I have had to stop reporting on the Giants’ home games and will reduce my coverage of the Ballers to a weekly or semi-weekly column. I believe that a weekly column is the better option. What it sacrifices in freshness and detail, it recoups in addition context. It will be learning experience.

Oakland Ballers Report: Follow the bouncing Ballers

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Oakland Ballers Cam Buford tunes up before a game at Raimondi Park in West Oakland (photo by Oakland Ballers X)

Monday, May 25, 2026

Oakland, CA

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–The first week of the 2026 Pioneer Baseball League was an inauspicious one for the defending champion Oakland Ballers, who managed nothing better than a 3-3 record, losing two out of three games against last year’s Mountain Division champs, the Missoula Paddle Heads and just squeaking by the Long Beach Coast, newcomers to the South Division and the league, also three games to two.

Both the league and the Ballers faced challenges before play began, but we’ll get to that after a brief review of the on-field action.

The Padddleheads demolished the B’s, 11-2 on opening night, Tuesday, the 19th, going ahead when Michael Koszewski blasted a one and two pitch over the left field wall to give the Montanans a lead they never would lose.

Jake Tirk was the only hometown hurler to blank the invaders, whoops: visitors, holding the seven batters he faced in the eighth and ninth frames to a couple of hits and a walk. Starting pitcher Gabe Tanner, who allowed six runs, five earned, on nine hits and three free passes, took the loss.

Shortstop Tremayne Cobb and catcher Jarden’ Collura were the only Ballers with multiple hits, neither for extra bases. The defense committed three errors, to none for the Paddleheads, but only one of the Missoula tallies was earned.

The Ballers evened the series the next night with a convincing, but not overwhelming, victory, seesawing through four and a half innings before breaking three with a five run

bottom of the fifth and then scamper home with a 13-8 triumph. Cobb got three hits, all singles, as did centerfielder T.J. McKenzie, whose three for three night included a round tripper and half a dozen RBI. I’ll have more to say about manager Aaron Miles’ use of McKenzie when we get to the challenges and solutions section of this column.

Switch hitting Jake Allgeyer was the remaining B’s batter to log a mult-hit performance. First baseman Jeter Ybarra had a bad night, going 0-5 at the plate and committing the Ballers’ only error. Liam Rocha, who relieved Aidan Risse in the fourth and surrendered two runs, one of them earned, on two hits, while walking another pair of batters, in his three innings on the mound, got the win.

Missoula mauled their hosts in the series finale on Thursday, the 21st almost as badly as they had in the opener. The PaddleHeads crossed the plate twice in first and were ahead, 8-0, by the time the Oaklanders managed their first tally, a sole run, in the bottom of the seven. The final score was 12-4. The visitors score their dozen runs with a baker’s dozen of hits and made three errors. Oakland their quartet of tallies on an octet hits while committing a duet of errors. Esai Santos drove in half of Oakland’s runs with a two homer with Cobb on base in the bottom of the ninth. Nick Bautista, who lasted only 2-2/3 innings, took the loss.

The worm began to turn for the West Oakland Wonders when the Long Beach Coast,

 AKA Regulators, sporting their teal jerseys and pinstriped black pants, came to town on Friday, the 22nd. It took an anxiety ridden three hours and thirty-two minutes before McKenzie’s sacrifice fly to center brough Jake Allgeyer home with the tie breaking winning run in the bottom of the ninth, giving us a line score that looked like this:

123456789RHE
Long Beach Coast24040000111101
                    Oakland Ballers0300141031291
             

Santos, Ybarra, and left fielder Damian Stone went yard, and Jaden Sheppard, the DH, Stone, right fielder Noah ‘Blythe lifted the fans’ spirits with a run batted in apiece, Santos drove in threeand Ybarra five. Santos, Ybarra, and McKenzie were the only Ballers to get more than one hit, with two each; Sheppard, Stone, and Nick Poss, Friday night’s catcher, accounted for the remainder. Braydon Nelson was credited with the win, in spite of giving up a leadoff four bagger that put Long Beach ahead 11-8 in the top of the ninth.

Oakland Ballers game wrap: Ballers get trounced 13-1 by Giants at Excite Ballpark Tuesday

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Oakland Ballers vs. San Jose Giants Battle of the Bay exhibtion game at Excite Ballpark in San Jose on Tue Mar 31, 2026 (image from Oakland Ballers X)

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

By Lewis Rubman

Oakland Ballers 1 San José Giants 13

Attendance 2,800 (estimated)

SAN JOSE–It doesn’t take long for the Bay Area to establish a tradition. Last year’s Battle of the Bay 2.0 was such a success that it was inevitable that there’d be a repeat performance of the showdown between the San Francisco Giants’ Class A California League farm team and Your Oakland Ballers of the independent Pioneer Baseball League, classified as “partner” circuit with MLB. the successor to the big league franchise that deserted Oakland. San José defeated Oakland last year, 5-2, but the crew from Raimondi Field held their own. Tonight’s encounter was a different story. The B’s fell behind in the first inning and never recovered. The final score was a dismal 13-1

Both teams won their league’s championship in 2025, but the similarities end there.

The Giants had a month’s spring training under their belt. Tuesday night’s exhibition game was the first time the 2026 incarnation of the Ballers took the field together.

The game was played under this year’s MLB rules, which gave Oakland somewhat of a well needed boost because the most radical change in those rules this year has been their adoption of the Pioneer Baseball League’s challenge system. I don’t think anyone would argue that the East Bayers were a better team than their opponents, even though none of the little Giants is on the big team’s 40 player roster. Still, both squads were motivated by both pride and the need to prove themselves.

Dario Reynoso led San José’s attack with a perfect three for three at the plate. Two of his hits were doubles, and he was walked a couple of times, drove four runs across the plate, and stole a base in the bargain. Two other Giants had perfect offensive nights; Martin’s blast in the opening frame came in his only at bat, and Cam Maldonado went two for two, with a triple, a walk,and a stolen base.

None of Oakland’s hurlers last more than a frame on the mound.

The box score hasn’t been released at this writing.

San José retained the Tom Pellack Memorial Bridge Trophy, made from the steel used in the original Bay Bridge.There’s a certain irony in that.

The Ballers will have plenty of time to recover.The reigning Pioneer Baseball League champions will open the defense of their title at Raimondi Fieldon Tuesday evening, May 19 at 6:35.

Oakland Ballers Season wrap up: Ballers are the Champions in only their second season

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Oakland Ballers the 2025 Pioneer Champions celebrate their Championship victory over the Idaho Falls Chukars 8-1 on Sun Sep 21, 2025 (Oakland Ballers photo)

updated Tuesday, September 23, 2025

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–If the Oakland Ballers; two years in the Pioneer Baseball League, the reincarnation of the short season, affiliated Pioneer League, has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. A corollary of this insight is that no lead is safe and, as they say in the investment pitches, past performance is no guarantee of future profits.

Last year’s Ballers finished the season on top of the resurrected league only to be eliminated in the division series, the playoff round that precedes the championship round. This year’s Ballers set a PBL record for wins, going 73-23. The publicity departments of both the league and the team usually refer to this as “the modern era.” I prefer to call the two entities, which play (or played) by very different rules, by their distinct names. On their way to finishing first in both the halves of the regular season, the B’s won 13 consecutive series.

They faced tough opposition in the Idaho Falls Chukars, who had clinched the North Division championship by defeating the Missoula Paddlewheers, 22-3, after splitting the first two games of the division round.

The Chukars defeated the Ballers soundly in both of the games played in Idaho Falls, taking the opener, 5-3, on September 16.The B’s scored all of their runs in the first two frames. Tremayne Cobb was the only Baller to manage an extra base hit off the five hurlers the Chukars sent to the mound.

The next evening, Noah Millikan, the ace of Oakland’s starting rotation ,lasted a mere lasted a mere two-thirds of an inning, in which he managed to yield six runs, all earned, in a 15-10 drubbing that sent the teams back to Oakland, with the B’s needing to sweep the three games scheduled to be played in West Oakland.

A game in the friendly confines of Raimondi Park, where everybody knows your name, is a family affair. On the day the Ballers claimed the division crown, I had been in line behind the mother of umpire Ricardo Ramírez. l sat behind the mother of Ballers manager Aaron Miles, at the game on Saturday the 20th, when the B’s tied the Championship Round at two all. We jabbered away all game long.

Friendships form quickly at Raimondi, and I’ve met some wonderful people there whom I’m now proud to call, not just my baseball buddies, but friends.

Friday, September 19th, in the first of three elimination games over the weekend, Oakland stayed alive by trouncing Idaho Falls, 10-2, with a 13 hit onslaught led by Tyler Lozano, who went 3-4, with two RBI, and two hits each by Tremayne Cobb, Christian Almanza, and Danny Harris. Almanza and Lozano went yard. The win went to Lluke short, who allowed one earned run in five innings of work. He also allowed the visitors’ other, unearned, run. James Colyer, Zach St. Pierre, Conner Richardson, and Caleb Franzen combined to hold the Chukars scoreless over the remaining four innings. All but St. Pierre, who gave up two hits and a walk to the three batters he faced, were effective.

The home team pulled even on Saturday evening in a contest that, to judge by the final score of 8-3, looked like an easy romp but really was a tightly fought duel, in which the B’s trailed, 2-0, after 4-1/2 innings before taking a 3-2 lead that stood until their four run breakout in the seventh. Gabe Tanner got the win for his 5-1/3 frames of two run, ten hit pitching .Connor Sullivan put the visitors down in order to earn the save. The player who really saved the game was Michael O’Hara with his incredible grab of Eddy Pelic’s with a runner on third and no outs that sent him crashing into the outfield fence to end the eighth and preserve the one run lead the B’s were enjoying at the time.

Earlier that evening, in the top of the fifth Esai Santos had made the best throw from the outfield to home that I ever have seen, and I’ve been watching baseball seriously since 1950. Tom McCaffre was on second with two down. Spencer Rich smacked a single to right.

McCaffrey advanced to third and headed for home. Santos’s throw arrived in Lozano’s mitt at the exact moment that McCaffrey reached the plate. but he couldn’t get past Lozano; the B’s receiver didn’t even need to twitch as he applied the tag. I was sitting in the third row, right behind the plate and had a clear view of the play, and I was flabbergasted.

It all came down to game five. Shane Spencer started for Idaho Falls. While sitting in the Adirondack chairs in front of the entrance to the grandstand, waiting for the gates to open, his grandparents and I had a stilted but not unfriendly chat. (I told you that baseball at Raimondi is a family affair). Whenthe gates opened, we said our somewhat strained farewells, and I added, “I hope he pitches a good game and his relievers let him down.” After a rough start he did, and, after 6-1/3 innings, they did. I was glad of the Ballers’ win, and I bear no ill will towards Spencer’s grandparents, but I did derive a sneaky satisfaction from the irony of their post game flight bringing them home to . . . Las Vegas.

Spencer’s difficulties began in the first episode, when he had trouble with his command and also couldn’t keep the Ballers’ baserunners from stealing at will.Although the Chugars’ righty logged back to back Ks against the hard hitting Christian Almanza and Cam Bufford, Jack Allgeyer gave Miles Men a three run lead with home run over the right field fence that plated Cobb, who had led off with a single to right, and Santos, who had walked, before him. Walks to Lozano and Harris in the second set the stage for Cobb’s RBI single to left that put Oakland up, 3-0..

After that, Spencer was lights out. He gave up an infield single to Harris in the third, and that was the last time a Baller reached base on him until Harris again singled, this time to center, to lead off the bottom of the eighth. Spencer retired Cobb on a fly to center and then exited the game, still responsible for the runner on first. The big hit was Bufford’s three run blast to dead center field, his second three run four bagger in two days.

The Ballers showed off some glittering defense. Allgeyer made a sliding pick of Johnny Pappas’ second inning, bases loaded slow grounder. jumped to his feet, and threw the Chukar catcher out at first to end the inning.

Noah Millikan, the ace of the Ballers’ rotation, got the start but had to exit after only two innings of shutout baseball with shoulder stiffness after two innings of shutout baseball. He surrendered two hits and three walks. Adam Bogosian relieved him and earned the win with 3-1/3 innings of stellar mound labor. Dylan Delvecchio and James Collyer held opposing batters hitless, but Oakland’s closer, Connor Sullivan, coughed up a leadoff homer to Trevor Rogers in the ninth. But it was too little, too late for the Chugars, and the newest Oakland team has won all the marbles.

For at least the second time this season, 860 AM, The Answer chose not to broadcast the game. It aired on a weak station in Palo Alto that was nearly inaudible inside the ballpark.

It would be fun to hear cries of “Break up the Ballers,”and we might very well hear them, but the labyrinthian eligibility rules for the Pioneer Baseball League will do that in a few years without any fishy fire sale. The PBL promotess repeated perpetual renewal

So, what can we expect from the 2026 Oakland Ballers? If the past is any guide to the future, we can expect a whole lot more of the unexpected.

Oakland Ballers weekly report: Ballers host Championship series in game 3 Friday at Raimondi

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Oakland Ballers mascot Scrappy the Possum is surrounded by Ballers fans after celebrating a series win during the Ballers last homestand at Raimondi Park in Oakland (photo by the Oakland Ballers)

September 15, 2025

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–It wasn’t always pretty, it wasn’t always free of errors, physical or mental, but it was an exciting three game series that saw the team from the town defeat the visiting Ogden Raptors, two games to one, in a hard fought trio of games that contrasted vividly with the Pioneer Baseball League’s reputation as a hitter friendly circuit. The rivals managed to score only ten runs between them and never were separated by more than two tallies.

The Ballers took the opener, 4-2 Their ace righty, Noah Milllikan, was tentative in the first two frames, loading the bases in the first and allowing an opposite field solo home run in the second to Christian Hall. Both the B’s and the Raptors have a slugging left handed first baseman named Christian. It probably doesn’t mean a thing, but it’s emblematic of how closely matched the rival squads were.

The milkman then settled down to throw a total of 106 pitches before tiring and exiting the game after seven innings on the mound, marred only by an unearned run in the sixth, facilitated by second baseman Danny Harris IV’s throwing error that allowed Carmine Lane to cross the plate. Harris’s near fatal error came after he had given a master class in fielding with a couple of sparklers earlier in the struggle.

The Ballers’ set up man,Conner Richardson’s eighth inning mirrored Millikan’s first, no runs, one hit, and three stranded. Connor Sullivan earned the save with two K’s and a fly to right that got the Ballers off on the right foot before Ogden came back to tie the series on the 12th.

Friday the 12th saw the Raptors knot up the series with a 2-1 squeaker. Five Ogden hurlers combined to hold the home team to one run on five hits—all singles—, three walks, a wild pitch, and a hit batter. Starting starboarder Cole Stasio led the way and yielded the sole Oakland tally.

It came on a two out rally in the fourth in which Lou Helmig walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and came home on Harris’s single to center. Ogden got both of their runs in the seventh on Conner Bagnieski’s lead off single to right and, after Cole Jordan flew out to the center field warning track, Christian Hall’s two run four bagger to right center.

Alain López and Ryan Velázquez, who earned the save, each pitched a scoreless inning to frustrate Oakland’s hopes for a comeback.

Saturday’s rubber game was classic baseball, the type of game that we old timers savor. The Raptors got plenty of nothing, and the Ballers didn’t get much of anything either. Each squad got five hits, none for extra bases.

The Raptors’ starter, Austyn Coleman, surrendered one run over 6-2/3 episodes, and it was both unearned and a legacy that Coleman”s successor, Cameron Edmonson, allowed to score . That heartbreaking tally came when Nick Leehey led off with a single to center. TJ McKenzie ran for him and, to nobody’ s surprise, stole second.

After Tremayne Cobb fouled out to first, Esai Santos drew a base on balls. Then McKenzie and Santospulled off a double steal, in the process of of which Ogden catcher Carmine Lane lost control of the ball. After that, it was all over except for the anxiety and then the shouting.

Sunday the 14th and Monday, the 15th, were travel days for Oaktown’s standard bearers Their destination is Idaho Falls, home of the Chukars, who also took their series, 2-1, against the regular season Northern Division Champion Missoula Paddlewheelers. The Chukaars will not be a negligible opponent; they took Sunday’s deciding game, 22-3. Contrast that to the nail biters, I’ve just been talking about.

The games in Idaho Falls are scheduled for Tuesday the 16th and Wednesday and the 17th. Then a day to travel back to West Oakland for what could be the last of the best three out five game Championship Division series. Or the suspense could continue until one team manages to win for a third time, and, with it, the 2025 Pioneer Baseball League crown.

Games one and two of the Championship Round will be played in Idaho Falls on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 16th and 17th. Then it’s one day to travel to West Oakland, and at 6:35 Friday evening, September 19, it will be game three of the best three out of five series. The division champions will battle it out until one of them notches its third win and goes home as the champions of 2025 Pioneer Baseball League season.

Oakland Ballers Weekly Report By Lewis Rubman

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Oakland Ballers Millikan Cements has a good shot at being the Pioneer League Pitcher of the Year (photo by the Oakland Ballers)

Oakland Ballers Weekly Report

Monday, September 8, 2025

By Lewis Rubman

What’s as rare as a day in June? A complete game in the Pioneer Baseball League is one possible answer. And the past week in Raimondi Park gave us some pretty rare pitching, including one or two complete games, depending on how you look at it, several stretches that cast doubt on the PBL’s fame as a hitter’s league, and a pitch for AI.

The Ballers opened their last home stand of the season last Tuesday, September 2nd, and in the process broke the PBL record for most wins in a season with 70. But it wasn’t Gabe Tanner, who notched his ninth victory against no defeats, who tossed the rarity.

That distinction went to Great Falls’ Brandon Moody, whose record fell to 2-5 after holding the B’s to two runs, both earned, on six hits on to two walks and a wild pitch, over the the eight innings in which they went to bat.

One of those hits was Davis Drewek’s two run blast over the center field fence with Esai Santos, who had walked, with one down in the top of the first. Tanner pitched six excellent innings, surrendering the Voyagers’ lone tally, which came on Emilio Corona’s solo shot into left field night.

James Colyer and Conner Richardson hit the visitors scoreless in the seventh and eighth, respectively, setting the scene for Connor Sullivan’s 19th save, which tied the league’s record in that category. It also was Aaron Miles’ 100th win as the Ballers’ manager.

The Voyagers got even on Wednesday evening, defeating their hosts, 6-3. The contest again featured some excellent mound work by the visitors.

Danny Galvan, their starter, gave up all of the Ballers’ runs in the first episode. TJ McKenzie led off with a walk, stole second, and scored on Cam Bufford’s one out single to right. Then Christian Amanza went yard to the opposite field. The B’s would not score again that night.

Galvan would get an out in the bottom of the sixth, followed by shutout frames by Mitchell Grannan (1-2/3 IP) and Nolan Pender, whose inning of work earned him his seventh save of the year. Thursday the fourth saw Noah Millikan hurl six shutout frames, which brought his streak of consecutive goose eggs up to 22.

It also improved his won-lost balance sheet to 7-1 and lowered his ERA to a most non PBL like 2.12. Bufford’s full count seventh inning four bagger made the speedy and versatile rookie the B’s sole member of the 20-20 club. Oh, and by the way, Oakland won, 7-2.

The week’s parade of powerful pitching proceeded apace on Friday the fifth. The Ballers’ pitching was powerful, but the game was called due to a power outage after six innings. Luke Short had held the Voyagers scoreless on three hits and a walk in that period, and Caleb Franzen was about to relieve him in top of the seventh, but I don’t think anyone saw him actually throw a pitch.

I know I didn’t, and the box score doesn’t show him as having done so. That leaves the question of whether or not Short should be credited with a complete game. In any case, it keeps pitching in the spotlight. Which is more than stanchions could do.

Oakland was ahead, 5-0, on homers by Lou Helmig and irrepressible Amanza and an RBI single by the multi-faceted Bufford, and that was the final score. No one I saw seemed unhappy with the result, especially since the night was turning cold.

Monday’s San Francisco Chronicle finally gave the Ballers some coverage when it printed, below the fold, a piece by Shayna Rubin, with the headline, “Manager Milles let AI take his job for the night.” Res ipsa loquitur.

The game itself was a squeaker which—you guessed it—was notable for the pitchers’ performances.Sam Lavin threw 119 pitches for Great Falls over seven innings and allowed the B’s only one run. It came in his last inning on the bump and was the result of a round tripper to left center by—yes, indeed—Cam Bufford.

Cam Cowan gave up an unearned run in the eighth, and Robert Kelley shut the B’s out in the ninth. The 161 pitches the Voyagers threw was hardly an elegant job, but they held powerful B’s to two runs over nine innings.

Reed Butz held Great Falls to four hits and a walk over seven scoreless frames. James Colyer gave up a hit and a walk in two thirds of an inning, and Connor Sullivan blew the lead by coughing up two earned runs on two hits, one of which was Kyle Schack’s homer with AJ Fritz, who had singled, on board.

That hardly seems like a vindication of the advice AI gave manager Miles. Rubin reported that he said that he would have used Sullivan to attempt the four out save if making the decision on his own. But do we need machines to tell us to make the mistakes we would have made without them?

Oakland won the game in the first knockout round. Bufford—who else—hit two home runs, which was all it took. It’s nice they won, but should games be decided by a crap shoot?

And that takes us to Sunday’s season finale. Would you believe a scoreless tie for eight innings, ending in a 2-1 Great Falls win? You’d better believe it, because that’s what happened. The Voyagers’ Nick Marshall went into the ninth without having let a single Baller cross the plate.

Seven Oakland hurlers had blanked Great Falls over eight innings before a sacrifice fly by Fritz and an RBI single by Corona off Zach St. Pierre, who had been lights out in the eighth, put the home town champions down, 2-0.

Dillon Tatum greeted Marshall by going yard to left, and that was it for the Voyagers’ starter, who had thrown 134 pitches and allowed only six hitters, including Tatum’s near equalizer, four free passes, and a hit batter. Wyatt Cameron fanned the three batters he faced to earn his eighth save.

The semi-final round of the playoffs will begin at Raimondi Park at 6:35 this coming Thursday evening, when the Ballers will face the Ogden Raptors in the first of a best two out of three game series. The two teams will meet again in West Oakland on Friday, and, if a third game is necessary, tickets will go on sale immediately after the game ends, for the winner take all shot at advancing to the championship round. That game would be played on Saturday, also at 20th and Wood.

And that was the week that was.