Tag: Oakland Ballers

Ballers edge Jackalopes in 4-3 win; St Pierre pitching enough for Oakland win

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Oakland Ballers pitcher Zach St Pierre got a quality start over the Grand Junction Jackalopes at Raimondi Park in West Oakland on Tue May 27, 2025

Grand Junction Jackalopes (1-6) 020 010 000 3 4 1

Oakland Ballers (4-3) 100 000 21x 4 8 1

Time: 2:17

Attendance: 1,311

Tuesday, May 27, 2025

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–In a tense battle, the Ballers crossed the .500 line this chilly Tuesday night by sneaking past the visiting Grand Junction Jackalopes by a score of 4-3 in a game filled with reversals of expectations and which hinged on the Pioneer League’s idiosyncratic and confusing challenge rule.

The Ballers drew first blood, when the ‘lopes’ starting pitcher, Joe Cuomo, walked Tremayne Cobb, Jr., who proceeded to pilfer second, advance to third on Davis Drewek’s single to left, and come home when Daniel Harris IV grounded out to short.

That was the last run the B’s managed to plate against Cuomo, who went on to post a line from his first to his 75th and final offering of one, earned, run on four hits and one walk, balanced by one strike out over 5-2/3 innings. He wound up with a no decision.

Oakland’s starter, Zach St Pierre, looked sharp in the first, but surrendered back to back homer to the first two batters he faced in the second, Mason Minzey and Robin Fernández. But St. Pierre recovered quickly and ended his six inning stint with a respectable three runs, all earned, on four hits, and one walk.

He, too, left the park with a no decision. Grand Junction’s third and final tally put them ahead, 3-2, in the top of the fifth, after Isaac Núñez led off with a double, moved on to third when Alex Pimentel sacrifice him and Zeb Roos, who’d been hit by a pitch, up a base, and then scored on Matt Piotrowski’s ground out to the hot corner.

It looked as if things might stay that way until the Ballers pulled even in home seventh. Tal Atkins had taken over for Cuomo to strike Drewek out to close down the hosts’ sixth. He got Harris to ground out to short and then surrendered a home run to designated pinch hitter Pat Monteith. (The DPH rule is another Pioneer League quirkinesss; it allows—under certain circumstances— the original batter to return to the game after the DPH has competed his plate appearance.

In this case that original batter was Christian Almaza). That brought Mark Schommer to the hill. He loaded the bases by allowing a single to Cam Buffard, walking Marques Titialii, and plunking Tyler Lozano. A single to short by Darryl Buggs brought the speedy Buffard home with the tying tally. Cobb almost broke the tie by unloading a smash a smash to third, but Fernández managed to field it and unleashed a throw that cut down Titialii at the plate.

Drewek led off the home eighth and with a full count was called out on strikes. He challenged the call, and it was reversed. Harris followed with an RBI double, and Oakland had a 4-3 lead. Schommer set the next three Ballers down in order, but Drewek’s decision to challenge home plate umpire Mike Blanchard’s call was the pivot that irremediably changed the course of events.

Connor Sullivan set the Jackalopes down in order in the ninth to earn the save, his first of the season. The win went to the newly acquired Caleb Franzen, whose one two three top of the eighth had made him the pitcher of record when the B’s pulled victory from the jaws of defeat.

It was, perhaps, the most exciting game of the Ballers’ young season. And it could not have happened in any in any other league.

What new surprises await us at 6:35 Wednesday, evening? Come on down to 1690 20th Street in West Oakland for the second of this six game series and find out.

Ballers use six pitchers can’t hold Raptors in 8-2 loss at Raimondi

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The scores says it all a tough day for Oakland Baller pitchers six pitchers used in a six run loss to the Ogden Raptors at Raimondi Park in West Oakland on Sun May 25, 2025 in Pioneer League action (Oakland Ballers X photo)

Ogden Raptors (3-3) 300 301 001 8 11 1

Oakland Baller (3-3) 001 000 001 2 10 1

Time: 2:52

Attendance: 1,954

Sunday, May 25, 2025

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–The high flying Oakland Ballers came tumbling down to earth in this Memorial Weekend’s Sunday afternoon encounter with the Ogden Raptors in a bright, chilly, and sparsely attended Ernie Raimondi Park.

The final score was 8-2 in favor of the visitors. For all the one-sidedness of all but the first of this six game series, the teams are fairly evenly matched. Like the statistician who drowned fording a river with an average depth of six inches, they illustrate that the devil really is in the details.

The first pitch was thrown at 1:05, and the Ballers quickly fell behind, 2-0, with one out in the top of the first. That was the closest they came to a tie before the final out was recorded at 3:57, two slowly passing hours and 52 minutes in which the Oaklanders had a chance to experience the same tortures they had inflicted on their opponents only a day earlier, in their 9-2 triumph over these same Raptors.

Oakland sent five pitchers to the mound. The starter, Dylan Porter, gave up six in his 3-1/3 inning stint, although half of them were unearned. Only James Colyer, who took over for him and allowed an inherited runner to score, and Conner Richardson, who set Ogden down in order in the eighth, escaped without having a run charged to their accounts. Alec Rodríguez and Conner Sullivan respectively allowed a run—earned—in his two and one inning appearance.

What Ballers lacked in pitching, they made up in hitting … and frustration. They made ten hits in 35 at bats, a respectable .286 team BA. They also stranded 11 runners. Tremayne Cobb once more had a multihit game, going two for four. He was the only Baller to break the one hit barrier. Marquez Titialii’s ninth inning lead off double was the team’s only extra base hit.

Every Raptor in the starting lineup except Kenny Oyama got at least one hit, and he managed to walk and score two times. Elliot Good and Cole Jordan had multihit afternoons, with three and two respectively. Miguel Hernández turned in a good performance in his 5-1/3 inning start for the visitors, yielding one run, which was earned, on seven hits and two walks and throwing 95 pitches in the process.

Shawn Tripplett and Cameron Edmonson blanked the B’s through the eighth frame, Tripplett on no hits and a walk in 1-1/3 innings; Edmonson, on a hit and a walk in one. Nik Cardinal mopped up in the ninth. Oakland got to him for a run—earned— on two hits and a base on balls, but it was too little, too late.

After a day off Monday to recuperate, the Ballers will start another six day series on Tuesday, the 30th. They’ll face the Grand Junction Jackalopes (1-5 and 11th in the Pioneer League’s overall standings). The Ballers now are 3-3, tied with the Raptors for sixth place). Game time will be 6:35p.

Ballers get the offense with seven run win over Raptors 9-2

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Oakland Ballers pitcher Reed Butz delivers to the Ogden Raptors line up at Raimondi Park West Oakland on Sat May 24, 2025 (Oakland Ballers photo)

Ogden Raptors (2-3) 000 000 002 2 7 1

Oakland Ballers (3-2) 030 200 22x 9 13 1

Time: 2:08

Saturday, May 24, 2025

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–Last Thursday’s self-inflicted 13-9 walloping of Oaktown’s B’s by the visiting Ogden Raptors turned out to be the kick in the pants the locals needed to get their individual and collective butts in gear. They reacted by humiliating their guests, 16-1 on Friday night, Saturday the 24th the Ballers disposed of the Raptors neatly in the late afternoon contest, 9-2.

It almost was the Ballers first shutout of the nascent season. Their starting pitcher, southpaw Reed Butz, needed only 67 pitches to hurl seven scoreless innings in which he allowed only three hits and a walk to 23 batters, just two over the minimum.

Carson Lambert relieved him to open the eighth and just managed to preserve the shutout. Adam Bogosian took over in the ninth and didn’t. There was action in the Oakland bullpen when he finally got the final out after yielding the Raptors their two runs.

Runner were on second and third when he did. Rookie Tremayne Cobb, Jr. extended his eye popping work at the plate. His three for four performance, including a run producing two bagger, upped his batting average to .462.

Michael O’Hara also went three for four, a satisfying afternoon’s work for the center fielder who had spent the previous season on the Raptors’ roster. Two other B’s had multi-hit games, both Daniel Harris and Marques Titialii got two hits in four at bats. One of the latter’s was a two run homer in the second frame.

Leadoff batter was the only Raptor to log more than one hit, going three for four. None of their three hurlers emerged unscathed. Samuel Bass suffered the loss, yielding five runs, four earned, requiring 84 pitches to get through five innings.

Nico Saltaformaggio (two innings pitched, two runs, both earned and coming on Dave Drewek’s seventh inning round tripper) and Kyler Stancato (four hits and two runs—both earned — in an inning) completed Ogden’s unimpressive mound record.

An Asian-Pacific Island Heritage Day celebration preceded the action, adding to the festivities.

Sunday, the series will conclude with the Ballers’ first true afternoon game, with a 1:05 start against the Raptors, following a pregame “Salute to Our Soldiers.” Right hander Dylan Porter is expected to start the game for the B’s.

Ogden gets a jump on Ballers in 13-9 win Thursday

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The Oakland Ballers lost a tough contest against the Ogden Raptors on Thu May 22, 2025 at Raimondi Park in Oakland (Oakland Ballers photo)

Ogden Raptors (2-1) 250 240 000 13 11 2

Oakland Ballers (1-2) 103 004 001 9 14 3

Time: 3:14

Attendance: 3,118

Thursday, May 22, 2025

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–On this chilly Thursday evening in May, more suitable to football than to baseball, the Ogden Raptors thrashed the Oakland Ballers by the football score of 13-9. It would have been a close game had they been playing that other sport. But they weren’t, and it wasn’t.

Ironically, the drubbing came as a moral victory for the Oaklanders. They had endured two innings of self-inflicted misery that would have caused a lesser outfit to abandon all hope, but the flawed hometown heroes kept a slim but real hope alive until the penultimate put out.

Carter Mize’s two run shot over the right field fence off starting pitcher Mac Lardner put the Raptors up 2-0 in the first. The Ballers responded by scraping up a run in the bottom of the frame on Tramayne Cobb’s leadoff double, two walks and a throwing error by shortstop Elliot Good on Cam Buffard’s grounder We now had the makings of a tight ball game.

They ended in the top of the second, in which the Raptors made 11 plate appearances, but they didn’t bat around the order; they walked around it. The visitors scored five runs on two hits, both singles, and five bases on balls.

Ogden tagged on two more tallies in the fourth and another four in the fifth, in which the B’s found new ways to self-destruct. Good led off with a single to right. In the next two plays, the Ballers made errors on sacrifice bunts. Edwin de la Cruz reached first on a throwing error by pitcher Brady Eglite, who had mercifully relieved Lardner after he had faced six batters in the second without retiring any of them. Kenny Oyama then reached first on a throwing error and took second on the ensuing action, in which de la Cruz advanced to third and Good scored. De la Cruz then crossed the plate on a passed ball, Oyama taking third. The Raptors picked up two more runs by more conventional methods (a single and a sac fly) before they were done.

From the depths of this despair, with fans deserting Ernie Raimondi Park in droves, the Ballers battled back. Cobb smacked a one out double to right off of Braydon Bonner, who had relieved Matthew Colucci, who in turn had relieved starter Eli Ellliott in the bottom the fifth.

Lou Helmig drove Cobb home with a single, also to right and then reached third on when Davis Drewek got yet another single. He, too, advanced 180 feet on a single to right, this one off the bat of Christian Almanza, driving in Helmig. Bufford’s double to left plated Drewek.

Michael O’Hara followed up with as ground out to first, which brought in Oakland’s fourth and final run of the frame. The B’s still trailed, 13-8, but the worm had turned. They still had a shot at a comeback. They managed to score an unearned run in the ninth, but that was all they could muster.

But the team’s self respect had been restored. They even outhit their guests, 14-11, but with so many gifts of walks and errors, the Raptors really didn’t need many hits. They used five pitchers to subdue the B’s, the win going to Colucci. Manager Aaron Miles and pitching coach Jim Dedrick also sent a quintet to the mound. A trio—Carson Lambert, Conner Sullivan, and Cameron Edmonson—kept Ogeden off the board over the final four frames, two of which were handled by Lambert. The loss went to Lardner, now 0-1 with a gaudy ERA of 63.00.

Colucci was the winning pitcher. There was no save.

The season’s still young; 93 games still remain in it. There’s room for plenty for surprises. Let’s wait until Friday, evening at 6:35pm to see what new ones await us in the fourth game of this six game series.

Ogden rolls over Ballers 12-5; Oakland’s Drewek gets 1st homer of the season

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Oakland Ballers Davis Drewek connects in the bottom of the second inning against the Ogden Raptors in Pioneer League action at Raimondi Park in West Oakland on Wed May 21, 2025 (Oakland Ballers photo)

Ogden Raptors (1-1) 620 020 200 12 14 2

Oakland Ballers (1-1) 020 021 000 5 7 4

Time: 2:55

Attendance: 2,257

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–The ball rolled downhill at Ernie Raimondi Park Wednesday night after Tuesday’s heady success against the Ogden Raptors (1-1) as the Oakland Ballers (1-1) took a 12-5 loss to the Raptors. The attendance dropped from a full house of 4,100 fans to a disappointing 2,257.

The Ballers management wasn’t expecting a repeat of opening Tuesday night’s crowd, but they had been predicting a near sell-out. The Ballers used five pitchers, and only Alec Rodríguez and Esai Santos, who tossed the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, emerged unscored upon.

The most egregious hurler was the starter, Zach St. Pierre, who began the 2024 season as a denizen of the bullpen, but was chosen as the Ballers’ second starter of their second season. He lasted two innings and yielded eight runs.

It should be noted in his defence that only one was earned, but that didn’t keep him from being charged with the loss Oakland’s defense was nothing if not porous. Seven of Ogden’s tallies were unearned.

The Raptors took a commanding 6-0 lead in the initial frame and never looked back. They tacked on a pair of runs in each of the second, fifth, and seventh episodes. Left fielder Cole Jordan was their only hitless starter, while right fielder Damian Stone and second baseman True Fontenot had three hit innings.

Leadoff batter Kenneth Oyama enjoyed a two hit performance, as did first baseman Carter Mize, slammed a four bagger to right in the devastating first. The only Baller to clear the fence was third sacker Davis Drewek, who drove in both of Oakland’s runs in their meek attempt at a comeback in the second with a round trip drive to left.

Raptors southpaw starter, Chase Chapman, lasted only four innings on the bump and so was denied credit for the win, which was no injustice. It took him 86 pitches to get through so few innings, and he surrendered four runs, all of them earned in them.

Shane Gustafon, who allowed the Ballers their fifth and final tally, an unearned run that came on a two out infield single to Cliff Bufford, whose misadventures at the hot corner on Tuesday had earned him the role of DH tonight. Nick Cardinal earned the save with three innings of work in which he shut the Ballers down with but a single walk.

We’ll see what Thursday’s, third of this six game series has to offer. Game time again is 6:35, and the starters have yet to be announced.

Ballers defeat Ogden 5-4 in first KO round at Raimondi Park

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Oakland Ballers Treymayne Cobb (3) runs around the field but not around the bases. In the Pioneer League a hitter doesn’t run the bases in a KO round if it’s a home run. Cobb hit one out in the first round of the KO at Raimondi Park in Oakland (photo by Oakland Ballers X)

Ogden Raptors (0-1) 000 010 300 0 4 6 2

Oakland Ballers (1-0) 001 000 003 1 5 11 2

Decided in 1st KO Round

Time: 2:59

Attendance: 4,100

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–Tuesday night’s season opener, played between the Ogden Raptors and the Oakland Ballers before a festive sell-out crowd of 4,100, was a game of constantly revised expectations. Oakland’s Tremayne Cobb, Jr., playing in his first professional game, went five for five and won the game for the Ballers by smacking a home run in the first knockout round, an innovation that is the Pioneer League’s contribution to the theater of the absurd.

Ballers’ speedy third baseman, Cam Buffard made a costly error in the seventh frame in a situation that was set up by an infield single on which he easily might have been charged with an error, after which his high throw to second on what had started out as an around the horn double play ended up as a rare 5-4-3 ground out.

His ground out to second with runners on second and third in the bottom of the ninth stalled the Ballers’ rally that ended up tying the regulation portion of the game and forcing the knockout round. Luke Short, Oakland’s starting pitcher, pitched four beautiful innings, striking out seven Raptors without granting a base on balls and allowing only one hit before running out of steam and failing to retire even one opponent in the top of the fifth.

Ogden seemed to have wrapped up the contest with its three run outburst in the seventh only to be forced into a tie when Oakland’s bats finally came alive in the bottom of the ninth.

That set the stage of Ballers’ anticlimactic knockout victory. Under the K.0 rule, each team designates different hitters until a winner is a hitter who is allowed five swings against a pitcher provided by his own team or five minutes at the plate, whichever comes first.

The winner is determined by which team hits the most homers. If the round ends in a tie, each team selects a new batter, and the process is repeated until one of the teams mercifully breaks it.

Tuesday night, Ogden chose their catcher, Chris Sargent, who led them in home runs last season and had gone one for four in the game. He took five swings, none of them successful. Cobb’s first was.

None of Ogden’s batters hit for extra bases, although two of them had multi-hit night’s, Edwin de la Cruz (three for three with a couple of RBI) and Damian Stone (two for four). Bufford legged out a double for Oakland.

There was no winning or losing pitcher.

The Pioneer League follows a schedule of six consecutive games, Tuesday through Sunday, between the same two teams, so Wednesday will see another 6:30pm PDT contest between Tuesday night’s opponents. The starting pitchers haven’t yet been announced.

Minor League action: SJ Giants best Ballers 5-2 at Municipal Stadium Wednesday

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Battle of the Bay promotional image hangs on the fence at Municipal Park in San Jose before Wed Apr 2, 2025 game between the Oakland Ballers and San Jose Giants (San Jose Giants X photo)

Oakland Ballers—2 San José Giants—5

Time: 2:22

Attendance 2,843

April 2, 2025

By Lewis Rubman

SAN JOSE’–Baseball has a long tradition of in-season exhibition games, complimenting the pre-season variety. In the days before teams travelled by plane, the two major leagues would travel by overnight train between games in their informal eastern and western divisions, based respectively in the Eastern and Central Time zones.

These big league teams would stop off in the afternoon and play, often against their local farm clubs. Even after those whistle stop exhibitions, for which the players weren’t paid, ended, midseason contests between local major league teams remained popular.

New York had its Mayor’s Cup Series, in which the Dodgers and Giants vied alternatively against the Yankees and in which bonus babies like Sandy Koufax, who otherwise would have languished on the bench, got a chance to see some big league action.

(In the early 1950s, a player who received a signing bonus north of $4,000 had to remain on his team’s 25 man roster for two full seasons or be placed on waivers). The bonus baby rule was dropped after the 1957 season, just before the Dodgers and Giants moved west.

Locally, after the A’s moved into The Town in 1968, we had our Battle of the Bay, in which fans of the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants took mid-season time off from the pennant races to give often literal meaning to that moniker. Those days seemed to be gone forever.

But in a stroke of marketing genius, the Giants’ low single A California League farm team in San José and Oakland’s unaffiliated Ballers of the MLB’s partner Pioneer League, faced each other this evening in an exhibition match in which the Giants easily crushed the visitor’s from the east bay, 5-2, The score belies the game’s one sidedness.

The home team’s play was crisp; the visitors’ wan’t. No Baller hurler lasted more than an inning; the team was behind once Walker Martin blasted a solo home run to right in the bottom of the first. . Tyler Lozano’s solo shot to left knotted the score briefly in the top of the second, but the Giants forged ahead in the home fourth, and the closest Oakland came to scoring after that came when they left the bases loaded in the top of the ninth. The image that perhaps best represents the Ballers’ unreadiness for prime time is the two runners who fell gratuitously to the basepaths, one early, the other late in the game.

It was a lively crowd for what was publicized as an historic occasion. That might have been an exaggeration. But this first meeting between an affiliated minor league baseball club and a member of what’s called a partner league may prove to be a turning point in the relationship between the MLB, MiLB combine—what used to be called Organized Baseball—and its grass roots.

The game was played under California League rules, eliminating the confusion caused by those of the Pioneer circuit, which include a complex system of ball and strike calls and allowing re-entry to players temporarily removed from action.

A true amalgam, this was both a pre- and an in-season set to. For the teams on the field, it occurred at the end of spring training for one and at its very start for the otherl San José opens its regular season this coming Friday in Modesto, Oakland’s spring training starts in about a month. Its regular season opener won’t take place May 20. That probably explains the qualitative difference in their performances.MLB began official play on March 18 in Tokyo and on the 27th state side.

As of this writing, no official box score has been released. By my reckoning, the Ballers used nine pitchers, with Mac Lardner taking the loss. Since Charlie McDaniel, San José’s starter, was on the pitcher of record when the Giants went ahead for the last time, but didn’t pitch after that, the winner would have to be the scorer’s decision. To the best of my knowledge, that decision is TBA.

Wheelers deal Ballers season ending loss 6-4 in game 3 of Pioneer Playoffs

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The Oakland Ballers make their way back to the clubhouse following their game 3 playoff game against the Yolo High Wheelers at Raimondi Field in West Oakland on Fri Sep13, 2024 (Oakland Ballers X photo)

Yolo (2-1) 201 100 200 6 10 2

Oakland (1-2) 001 020 100 4 5 2

Time: 2:47

Attendance: 2,662

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–The Oakland Ballers’ successful inaugural season came to a depressing close this Friday the 13th when the Yolo High Wheelers, who have the same principal owners as the Oakland nine and also are newcomers to the Pioneer Baseball League, played Cain to the the Ballers’ Able.

The raucous crowd of 2,662, about 65% of Raimondi Park’s capacity, made enough noise that you’d have thought their favorites had fared better than they did. The decibel level of the West Oakland revelers exceeded that made in the East Oakland venue where the other (for now) Oakland ball club used to drive George Steinbrenner crazy. Nonetheless, Oakland fell to what on this occasion was clearly a superior team.

The game was closer than the score indicated, although the final outcome wasn’t seriously in doubt after Yolo jumped off to 2-0 lead in the top of the first.The High Wheelers’ starting pitcher, Ben Ferrer, struck out the three Ballers he faced in the bottom of the frame, and that set the tone for the rest of the contest.

Oakland rallied a few times but never caught up with their opponents, who won through a combination of their own good performance, some Oakland shortcomings, and a few sequences in which everything seemed to happen to the Ballers at just the wrong time..

The visitors outhit their hosts, 10-5. A pair of High Wheelers, José González and David Glancy, hit the ball out of the park, and three more, Brayland Skinner, Braylin Marine, and Angel Mendoza logged doubles. A trio of Ballers, Brett Carson, Daunté Stuart, and Tyler Lozano, homered, but those were the team’s only extra base hits. Brett Carson, Thursday’s hero, was the only Oaklander to turn in a multi-hit performance, a two out single in the fifth and a two out solo home run in the seventh, the home team’s swan song.

Ferrer went six innings to earn the win. For all his dominance in the opening frames (he struck out eight of the first 12 Ballers he faced), he allowed four hits and three runs, all earned, in six innings of work. That might be a quality start, but would you call someone with an ERA of 4.50 a quality pitcher?

Only if you were his agent. Jack Zatasky gave up a run on Carson’s four bagger. Connor Langrell and Ty Buckner followed him and held Oakland hitless and runless in the inning that each of them pitched, which earned Buckner the save.

The best pitching performance the Ballers got was from Zach St. Pierre, who relieved starter Luke Short (four runs, all earned, on six hits in 3-1/3 innings). St. Pierre allowed two runs in his three innings on the mound, but neither of them was earned. He allowed two hits and struck out two.

The crowd cheered and chanted “ZSP” as he left the field to make way for Christian Cosby in the top of the seventh. (“Oh, Tyler Lozano” was another chant that echoed across Raimondi Park several times over the course of the game).

Cosby promptly served up a sacrifice fly for a run that was charged to St. Pierre. The reason that neither that run nor the one that preceded it was earned is that Mendoza had reached third on an error by Oakland shortstop Brad Burkel that would have been the third out.

(That’s an example of what I meant by bad sequencing for the Ballers. An earlier one came on Skinner’s down the left field line RBI double in the third that Dandrei Hubbard could have handled if he hadn’t been playing in to defend against a bunt). Neither Cosby in his 2/3 of an inning nor Carson Lambert in his two full innings allowed a run, although each of them was touched for a hit .

The Glacier Range Riders whalloped the heavily favored Missoula Paddleheads, 17-3, Friday evening to take a commanding lead in the other first round playoff series. It looks like a Glacier-Yolo championship is in the offing while the Ballers wait ’til next year.

Oakland B’s player abuse claims could it lead to demise of team?

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The Oakland Ballers have won five of their last eight games in spite of all the off field problems they are having. The Ballers are seen here battling the Yolo High Wheelers on Sat Jul 27, 2024 at Raimondi Field in West Oakland (photo Oakland Ballers X)

By Sports Radio Staff

Last week an agent Lonnie Murray who represents injured Oakland Ballers player Myles Jefferson said that Jefferson’s injury was mishandled by the team and said that Myles was not set up with a doctor’s appointment.

Murray also said that the housing conditions of the players is unacceptable as the team has roomed four players as opposed to be two players per room. There also was a player who was robbed by gun point during the season.

“I’ve been a player agent for 22 years,” Murray said on the social platform X formerly known as Twitter “I don’t stand for bad behavior by anyone and I carry receipts for what I state publicly.”

The Ballers recently fired their manager Micah Franklin last week Sunday even though the club had the fourth best record in the Pioneer league after playing 54 games. The firing could have been because Franklin was speaking out against the mistreatment by the team of his players. The Ballers are in their first year as a expansion club and the question was raised could the reason of Jefferson’s not seeing a doctor be related cost savings? The firing of Franklin and the call by Murray for the trade and release of all the players she represents might trigger the downfall of the organization?

“all my players on the Ballers following months of poor management & highly unprofessional antics to which Micah Franklin spoke out against.” Murray wrote on X that Ballers players “Trevor Halsema, Austin Davis & Myles Jefferson (who got injured) are GONE!”

Also Kelsie Whitmore was told by Murray do not return to the Ballers who is away playing for the national baseball team “When I say I was advising Kelsie not to come back to the Ballers after she’s finished with the national team, I absolutely was,” Murray told the Bay Area News Group.

Former Oakland A’s pitcher Dave Stewart who is a business partner of Murray’s wrote on X that these young players under Murray’s watch will not be mistreated. Murray will support them every step of the way,  “These kids deserve better. The whole damn industry knows you don’t mess with kids when Lonnie’s on watch. What were THEY thinking?”

The Ballers co-founder Paul Freedman said that the Ballers take injury and safety extremely seriously and that if an issue comes up that the Ballers will immediately investigate and rectify a solution. With Murray asking Freedman to release or trade all the players she represents and the firing of Franklin there could be nothing left of the Ballers if Freedman doesn’t come in and do some quick damage control fast.

In spite of all the off field problems the Ballers are having the Ballers have won their last two games on Friday and Saturday and won five of their last eight games. Yet and still the Ballers future as an organization could hang in the balance unless there is a happy medium between Murray and Freedman soon.

Six run forth gives Ballers 14-9 win over Wheelers at Raimondi Park

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There were plenty of Oakland Ballers at Raimondi Park in West Oakland who picked up a five run win over the Yolo High Wheelers on Sun Jul 7, 2024 (photo by the Oakland Ballers)

Yolo High Wheelers ((18-21) 040 050 000 9 9 2

Oakland Ballers (24-18) 004 611 20x 14 15 2

Time: 3:40

Attendance: 1,103

Sunday, July 7, 2024

By Lewis Rubman

WEST OAKLAND–Turnabout is fair play. What goes around comes around. History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy; the second as farce. Choose your cliché, this weekend’s battles royal between the Pioneer League’s two most recent entries had it.

Saturday afternoon, the Oakland Ballers fell behind their rivals from Davis 4-0 in the second inning. Yolo added two runs in each of the following three frames to amass a seemingly insurmountable 10-0 lead when the Ballers came to bat in the bottom of the fifth. They put a four spot on the board then and tacked on six more in the seventh to even the score only to run out of steam and fall 13-10.

That was a tough loss and a tough act to follow.

But the Ballers bounced back this Sunday afternoon, winning going away, 14-9, in ways that frequently harked back to Saturday’s debacle.

It started with another fearsome fourth run top of the second, which was particularly unsettling because the Wheelers also had posted a quartet of second inning tallies not just on Saturday, but on Friday as well. Sunday night’s featured a solo home run by Yolo’s DH, Justin Kirby, two singles—one of them on a bunt—, a double, and a misplay Myles Jefferson, usually a shortstop but playing second today.

It originally had been scored a hit but after much discussion was reclassified as an error. It was fitting that the game would end with Jefferson, who was moved back to his normal position in the top of the eighth, would pull off a beautiful play at short, for the game’s final out.

But the worm turned Sunday. Oakland answered Yolo’s attack with a counter offensive that evened the score in the third. A Payton Harden single, followed by an Austin Davis double off the left field wall and Trevor Halsema’s sac fly to left kick started the Oakland comeback. It continued with two way player JP Gates, in his designated hitter mode singled to left and trotted home on Dondrei Hubbard’s tying home run. That blast would be voted the play of the game.

It certainly changed the nature of the contest, but there was more to come. Instead of petering out, Oakland’s offense picked up in the fourth where it had left off in the third, sending ten men to the plate . The B’s began by clogging the base paths with one out, chasing Yolo starter JC Ariza from the mound, replaced by Jacob Stobart.

He walked Davis, putting the Ballers up by a run. With the count 2-1, Gates swung and connected for a two run single to right. Stobart plunked Hubbard. Noah Martínez smacked a two bagger to right, plating Gates and Hubbard. Now it was Oakland who had two digits in the R column.

Nightmare visions of Saturday’s squandered comeback briefly appeared in the visitors’ fifth, when five High Wheelers crossed the plate. Brayland Skinner walked, stole second, and took third on a wild pitch by Oakland’s starting pitcher, Christian Cosby, arguably the ace of the staff, having started the day with a record of 4-1, 4.79, which in the Pioneer League are Cy Young numbers.

Brylin Marine, Yolo’s batting leader, ground out to short but drove in Skinner, for Yolo’s fifth run. Bobby Lada’s double and a free passes to Brandon Blackford and Kirby loaded the bases and set the scene for Yolo’s last hurrah, a grand slam by Kirkland Banks. It came on the last of Cosby’s 118 pitches. Cosby was charged with nine runs, six earned, on seven hits, three walks, and a wild pitch. He struck out 10.

The Ballers added a superfluous but reassuring run in each of the fifth and sixth innings, and two final tallies in the seventh.

After Cosby’s departure, one out short of earning (by the skin of his teeth the win), the Ballers used three relievers. None of them permitted any Yolo runs. The eventual winner, Zach St. Pierre, threw 26 pitches in two hitless innings to gain his first win against two losses. Conner Richardson gave up a hit in 1-1/3 frames, in which he threw 33 pitches. Carson Lambert’s 17 pitch one hit ninth closed the book on the High Wheelers.

The crew from Davis also sent four hurlers to the mound. Following Ariza (3-1/3 IP, seven runs, all earned; seven hits (one out of the park); three walks, and a hit batter, all on 70 pitches) were Stobart (1-1/3 innings, four runs, earned, three hits, two walks, and a strikeout on 26 pitches); Kris Anglin (a hit in two thirds of an inning, 17 pitches; and Noah Estrella, who allowed Oakland its last three runs, all earned, in 2-2/3 innings, in which he gave up four hits and walk on 41 pitches).

Three Ballers had multi-hit games. Two way Gates led the way, going five for five. Move over, Ohtani! Noah Martínez went three for four; Davis, two for five. Davis, Gates and Martínez doubled. Hubbard, Martínez, and Jaylen Smith hit four baggers for the home team.

Kirkland Banks and Kyle Guerra, with two apiece, had multi-hit games for the High Wheelers. Each of them also homered. Bobby Lada and Banks banged two baggers. Marine, who went one for five, extended his streak of consecutive games reaching base safely to 25.

After their usual Monday day off, the Ballers will open a new six game home series, beginning Tuesday the ninth at 6:35 against the last place Great Falls Voyagers