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Follow the Bouncing Ballers August 4 – August 9: That Was the Streak That Was

Published on August 11, 2026August 11, 2026 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

The Oakland Ballers lost to the Yuba Sutter Firebirds 9-5 Sun Aug 9, 2026 (photo by Oakland Ballers)

FOLLOW THE BOUNCING BALLERS, AUGUST 4-9, 2026: THAT WAS THE STREAK THAT WAS

Monday, August 10, 2026

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–There was a lot of good news to report about the Oakland Ballers this past week, but it was overshadowed by one appalling fact. So, as Gracie Allen would have said, let’s take the bitter with the batter.

Tremayne Cobb, the key to the B’s success in their first two seasons of existence, is out for the season. Manager Aaron Miles broadcast the announcement on Raimondi Field’s center field scoreboard just before the first game covered in this week’s column, Tuesday, August 4. He didn’t emphasize only Cobb’s many on field accomplishments; he also stressed the star’s manifold contributions to the community (or, better yet, communities) the Ballers seek to honor and serve. When the Ballers took the field, they promptly fell six runs behind the visiting RedPocket Mobiles, a name that alludes not just to the team’s sponsor and its product but to the squad’s condition as barnstormers. Then, in a manner worthy of the Cobb-inspired 2025 Ballers, his teammates went one to crush the PBL’s roadshow franchise by the score of 18-10. It was Oakland’s third straight win, and Miles’ Militia kept on winning for the rest of the week before its surge expired from heat prostration a week later in Marysville.

The line score for the battle on the fourth reads,

RedPocket Mobiles (1-18,3-54) 600 200 200 10 12 1
Oakland Ballers (9-10,31-36) 203 900 13x 18 10 1

Winning pitcher: Brock Mayer (2-0) Losing pitcher: Kade Walker 1-6)
Time: 3:19 Attendance: 2,222

Whenever the Mobiles come to Oak Town, there’s a lot of murmuring in the stands that the visitors derive an unfair advantage because RedPocket provides the ABS for all games played in the Pioneer Baseball League. I dismiss that particular speculation; if there were any truth to it, the PBL’s nomads would not have the won-lost record they take with them, like the mark of Cain, wherever they go. My suspicion is that, because RedPocket relies on the profits it earns from the services it provides the league, the company agreed to sponsor a team as a place holder until the deal that established the PBL franchise that will start playing in Irvine next year goes into effect..

In any case, the Ballers settled the Mobiles’ hash pretty well in their six game confrontation in West Oakland. The week’s contests repeated the pattern of the three games that preceded them; they were ripe with reversals, and not just because of their almost incessant exchange of leads and blown leads; individual players displayed wide swings of effectiveness. Oakland reliever Julio Rosario provides a good example. He had almost cost the Ballers their chance to reach the KO round that led to their hard earned victory on the second of the month; six days later, on Thursday, August 8, he saved his team’s bacon with fast balls of MLB calibre for velocity and precision.That performance earned him credit for the win, his second against one loss. By the week’s end, the Ballers had compiled an eight game winning streak, making them serious contenders for a play off berth. But then, in the sweltering heat of a Marysville Sunday afternoon, they blew an early 5-2 lead and then fell irretrievably behind the eminently beatable Yuba-Sutter Freebirds in the bottom of the seventh . On the mound during the meltdown was Julio Rosario.

But that road trip ending meltdown was still four days in the future when, on Wednesday the fifth, the Ballers turned the table once more on their guests in a triumph that brought Oakland up to the .500 mark for the second half. Not bad for a team that had lost its first seven games of the semi season!

The line on Wednesday, August 5, shows how the dominant the Ballers had become, at least against the Mobiles.

RedPocket Mobiles (1-19,3-55) 101 003 000 5 7 2
Oakland Ballers (10-10,32-36) 411 202 26x 18 21 0

Winning pitcher:Christian Díaz (2-0) Losing pitcher: Adam Christopher (0-6)Time: 2:41 Attendance: 1,547

Seven Ballers had multi hit games; a half dozen connected for doubles, and three of them hit home runs, Allgeyer smacking a pair of them. It goes without saying that Jeter Ybarra was among the fence clearers.

It also goes without saying that the Ballers scored 18 runs once more on the sixth and almost goes without saying that Ybarra knocked the ball out of the park. What requires mention is that Ybarra’s four bagger, his 31st, tied the team’s season record, set last year by Christian Almanza. Ybarra would break that record soon enough. In fact, he accomplished the feat the next day, Thursday the 6th, in the same game in which the B’s at long last surpassed the .500 mark for the second half.

Thursday the sixth, it was more of the same.

RedPocket Mobiles (1-20,13-56) 001 102 002 6 12 1
Oakland Ballers (11-10, 33-66) 440 102 03x 18 17 0

Winning pitcher: Griffin Smith (2-5) Losing pitcher: Miguel Rosado (0-1)
Time:2:44 Attendance:1,632

That said, if you were at the ball park and lost track of the action any time after the third inning, you wouldn’t have gotten any help from the PA announcers. Pinch hitters, position switches, pitching changes, all these went unannounced. You might be told who was at the plate, but not when he entered the game or which position he was playing. You might have marked him as the second baseman when you filled in your score sheet and discovered that he was the short stop when he came up for his third at bat. You might have entered the starting pitcher as a righty and then noticed a southpaw on the mound; after a hurried search on your iphone you’d discover that he was his team’s third pitcher. None of this, however much it annoyed you, would have come as much of a surprise. After all, the Mobiles’ roster sheet, published on the PBL’s website, lists Jordan Hamberg as alleft handed pitcher and outfielder who bats at throws right handed.

And you wouldn’t have been the only person to have this experience. At least two people sitting near me were left scratching their heads. There’s more to enjoy at a Ballers game than just the game. But there IS a game going on, and that activity, as well as the folks who care about it, don’t deserve cavalier disregard like this. After all. we’re talking about the Pioneer BASEBALL League.

Next on the Ballers’ agenda was the bus ride to Marysville for a three game series at Bryant Field, the all-ABS venue where the home plate umpires read the ball or strike ruling from the scoreboard but don’t make any pitch call decisions on their own.

I’m pleased to report that the online reports from this venue now include who got the win and was charged with the loss for some of the games, an improvement over their content during the B’s previous trip to the Sacramento exurbs. They still, however, doesn’t give that information for all games nor do they show the umpires’ last names.

It was so hot in Marysville that, while the second game of the series was being played in three digit temperatures, the game time of the final match was moved forward from 6:35 Sunday evening to 11:05 in the morning in a vain attempt to beat the predicted 105 degree heat. Mad dogs and Englishmen ….

The announcement of the morning start heralded the meltdown game But first let’s take a quick glance at the prelude to the win streak’s swan song, Saturday night’s inferno was another lopsided triumph for the Ballers’ batters. Ybarra didn’t add to his home run total but still managed to go a stellar five for seven with a couple of doubles and a corresponding number of runs batted in. The only Baller to put in a plate appearance without a hit to show for it was Brendan O’Sullivan, who walked after his sole visit to the batters’ box. Oakland never trailed their hosts.

Oakland Ballers (12-10,34-36) 140 612 210 17 23 0
Yuba-Sutter Freebirds (5-17,20-50) 111 200 100 6 16 1

Winning pitcher: Tyler Bates (1-0). Losing pitcher: Luke Ridley (0-1)
Time: 3:16. Attendance: 1,418

By Saturday the 8th, winning had become old hat for the Ballers, but right handed starting pitcher David Thomas was a revelation. It took him only 65 pitches to hold the Freebirds scoreless on four hits. That’s it; no walks, no wild pitches, no hit bathers. He pitched to only two over the minimum and achieved 10 ground outs against five fly outs. That’s Rippley Believe It or Not worthy in the Pioneer Baseball League. Another newcomer, center fielder Logan Johnstone joined the usual suspects with his second hone run in as many days. He went only one for four, and so his batting average dropped to .400.

By the eighth inning, the heat had become intolerable, but the Ballers still managed to limp to a decisive, albeit Pyhrric, victory. Bask in the glory of this line score;

Oakland Ballers (13-10,35-36) 002 421 202 13 15 0
Yuba-Sutter Freebirds (5-18,20-51) 000 000 012 3 9 1

Winning pitcher;: David Thomas (1-0). Losing pitcher; Jared Schaeffer (0-2)
Time: 2:50 Attendance: 449

Every dog has its day, and in these dog days of summer, trying to beat the heat by moving the starting pitch ahead by seven hours didn’t make the weather even tolerable. Both teams suffered from it, but it was evident that the Ballers faded while the Freebirds managed to come from behind and finally end the Ballers’ unvanquished skein at eight.

Recent additions Logan Johnstone and Mitchell Sanford led the Oakland attack, and another newcomer, Ren Abe-Arias, pitched decently—by Pioneer Baseball League standards—but Valek Cisneros couldn’t hold the lead in the sixth and an error by the usually elegant fielding T.J. Rogers at short with Tyler Bates on the mound, put the Freebirds ahead for good in the eighth. Rogers’ error seemed more mental than physical. The temperature already was in the triple digits, the playing surface was baked, so a half-baked split second mental cum physical error was not unexpected. Sic transit glorious winning streak.

The Ballers’ players certainly had a full week and fruitful week. The front office, too, was pretty busy these past seven days. If it was fruitful remains to be seen. Here’s a list of Oakland’s transactions so far this month it as reported on the PBL’s website:

8/8 Placed Reed Butz on the Injury List (Injury 10 Days)

8/7 Acquired RHP Ren Abe-Arias from the Red Pocket Mobiles in exchange for cash considerations
Signed Nathan Darden to their 2026 roster
Acquired RHP Nathan Darden from the Red Pocket Mobiles to complete a previous trade.
8/5 Placed Charlie Hurley on the Injury List (Injury 10 Days)
8/4 Signed Logan Johnstone to their 2026 roster.
8/4 Placed Tremayne Cobb on the Injury List (Injury 10 Days)

It’s also going to be a busy week at 20th and Wood. Here’s a list of perigame activities that might entice you to arrive early at Raimondi:

Tuesday, 8/11: Bay Mitzvah, a celebration of Jewish culture. The first 750 fans to enter will receive a Ballers noisemaker.
Wednesday, 8/12: A celebration of beloved Laney College football coach John Beam’s legacy. A Coach Beam championship cup goes to the first 750 fans through the gates.
Thursday, 8/13 is Oaktoberfest, complete with Oaktoberfest Giveaways in the Scrappytown Biergarten.

All the games are scheduled to start around 6:35. And all are against the Modesto Roadsters who, at 23-1 are the PBL’s second half leaders and, at 50-22, trail Long Beach by three games for the overall crown. The Ballers numbers are 13-11, 35-37.

Lewis Rubman is a Oakland Ballers reporter at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland Ballers weekly report: Follow the Bouncing Ballers, 7/27/26 – 8/3/26

Published on August 3, 2026August 4, 2026 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Oakland Ballers Jeter Ybarra won the knock out round against the Red Pocket Mobiles sending the Ballers dugout onto the field to celebrate at Raimondi Park in Oakland on Sat Aug 2, 2026 (photo by Oakland Ballers)

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–For all the on field sound and fury of this week in Oakland Ballers baseball, the most significant event may have occurred behind closed doors. On the Pioneer Baseball League’s players’ Monday day off, its owners got together and voted to place a new team in Irvine, CA in 2027. Ballers co-founder and CEO Paul Freedman announced the decision on the team’s You Tube channel during the team’s You Tube broadcast of the Wednesday game. The following is the text of the statement the circuit released on its website the following day:

The Pioneer Baseball League, a Major League Baseball Partner League, is coming to Orange County. The Irvine City Council voted Tuesday to approve a five-year agreement with Innovation Baseball Partners (IBP), clearing the way for a yet-to-be-named Pioneer Baseball League club to begin play at Great Park Baseball Stadium in the summer of 2027.

The agreement gives IBP the rights to operate the ballclub at the Great Park facility, including branding and advertising inside and outside the stadium, and calls for upgrades to the ballpark’s food and entertainment offerings.

“We’re thrilled to bring a new baseball team to Orange County. Innovation Baseball Partners takes pride in tailoring our teams to the communities we represent,” said IBP co-founder Paul Freedman. “Irvine is a hub for innovation with a diverse and growing population, and we know we can build something special out of Great Park.”

Under the terms of the deal, IBP will provide a minimum of $25,000 annually in community benefit programming. City officials project the partnership will generate approximately $368,000 in annual revenue for the Great Park Facility.

Central to the club’s plan is a ballpark experience drawing on the stadium cultures of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan and the Korea Baseball Organization in South Korea. Fans can expect coordinated crowd participation, energetic in-game entertainment, and a menu blending iconic Asian street foods and local craft beverages with traditional ballpark fare.

“IBP is designing a premium ballpark experience from the ground up, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome them to the Great Park,” said Irvine Councilmember William Go, Chair of the Great Park Board. “This partnership will bring elite entertainment to our City without the elite price tag, tailored for the people who live here.”

IBP also owns and operates two existing PBL clubs, the Long Beach Coast and Yuba-Sutter Freebirds. The group has built its model around affordable, family-oriented ballpark experiences.

Founded in 1939, the Pioneer Baseball League is an MLB Partner League , with player eligibility limited to those with no more than two years of professional experience. Great Park Baseball Stadium, which has hosted collegiate and amateur events in the past, will now serve as the home of the region’s newest professional club.

Details on the club’s official branding, final venue agreements, and player signings will be released in the coming months. Fans can follow updates and join the priority ticket waitlist at www.ocbaseballclub.com.

Many aspects of this document puzzled me. As I have pointed out several times in my contributions to Sports Radio Service, the Pioneer League was founded in 1939, but the Pioneer Baseball League’s first season was considerably later. MLB’s website does little to clarify this muddle, stating in its definition of partner leagues, “Since 1939, the Pioneer Baseball League had operated in the Mountain West region as an MLB-affiliated league. Beginning in 2021, the Pioneer League became a Partner League with clubs in Montana, Idaho, Utah Colorado and California

There are two problems with that quoted assertion. The first is that the Ballers and the Yolo Highwheelers were the first California based teams in the circuit, and their initial season was 2024. The second is that the Pioneer Baseball League definitely is not “now in its 87th year.” During 1993, I attended Pioneer League— not Pioneer Baseball League—games in Billings, Medicine Hat, and Idaho Falls. Take a look at these images from the Billings Mustangs’ program of that season.

What is the precise relationship between Mr. Freedman, the league, the Ballers, the new team in Irvine, and the Yolo Highwheelers, for that matter. I’m not impugning anyone’s integrity, nor do I have any serious legal knowledge of what constitutes criminal conflict of interest. Clearly, I need some clarification, and I think I share that need with my readers.

From what I can gather from a few online searches, it seems as though conflict of interest is endemic among MLB Partner Leagues. I found an article by Casey Dills, “The Rise of MLB Partner Leagues: Creation, Importance, and Impact on Professional Baseball,’” published on LinkedIn, that outlines the problem. The Ballers’ recent stock offering, also gives me pause. If, however, we recognize that the PBL is a training league, a three month try out camp in which players can hone and showcase their skills, the appearance of conflict of interest disappears.

The flip side to that is that wins and loses lose much of their importance and become part of the spectators’ entertainment experience, an emotional stadium giveaway. Teamwork and winning are, after all, marketable skills that the players can use if and when they advance to affiliated teams.

It’s not just for players for which the PCL serves as a try out camp. The league also tests new rules there. The Knock Out Round is one example; the pitch call challenge is another. Although that rule has some advantages, reading Dale Zimmerman, Chenyang Li, and Riley Post’s study, “On the Association of Umpire Performance with
Age and Experience in MLB,” in the Spring 2026 issue of Baseball Research Journal gave me pause. Although I’m no statistician—indeed, I wasn’t able to finish reading the piece—I believe that these two sentences cast serious doubt on the value of current ABS (Automatic Balls and Strikes):”[A] pitch is determined to be incorrectly called if 1) the probability that the pitch was in fact a strike is over 90% and the umpire called it a ball or 2) the probability that that pitch was is fact a ball is over 90% and the umpire called it a strike.” A margin of error that large strikes me as outweighing the costs of change a real life game into a video game. I’d welcome feedback from any of my statistical savvy readers, the Pioneer Baseball League, or the Ballers.

When we get to my report on the Ballers-Mobiles game of Sunday, August 2, we’ll get an idea of how casually those who execute the cyberfication of the game take these statistical ground rules.

One thing is clear; I can’t offer any informed speculations about the I impact of the forthcoming Irvine franchise on the PBL’s financial stability, its effect on the Ballers’ level of play, or the permanence of the Ballers in Oakland.

Writing that last sentence sent a chill down my spine, not just for the legitimate reason that the Baller franchise is premised on the promise never to leave The Town, but also because on Sunday, July 26, the Ballers had celebrated Halloween in July at Raimondi Field (remember that baseball is a sport rife with superstition). But it was on Tuesday the 28^that Marysville’s Bryant Field that the real horror story unfolded.

Blowing an early two run lead is no nightmare on Elm Street. Indeed, squandering leads early and often is part of the PBL’s DNA. But going on to lose, 20-10, with after the sun has set and the temperature is in the 90s to a team that took the field at 18-42 for the season might very well qualify as a nocturnal panic. And that’s what happened to the Ballers as they started their three night, three game series against the erstwhile Yolo Highwheelers, now known as the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds.

T GREAT SPORTS BUSINESS

After bringing home Oakland’s first pro baseball championship in three-plus decades, the Oakland Ballers are expanding beyond the diamond. With a 10-year license in place at historic Raimondi Park and owners like Billie Joe Armstrong and to turning Oakland’s only pro sports team into a year-round business.

Oakland Ballers (4-9,26-35) 200 100 124 10 13 2

Yolo-Sutter Freebirds (4-9,19-42) 10 15 031 00x 20 22 2

Winning pitcher: Isaiah Williams Losing pitcher: Reed Butz (0-1,11.57)

The only bright spots in the evening’s debacle were that after falling behind 19-4, the B’s outscored the F-Bids, 6-2 and that Tremayne Cobb was in uniform and off the injured list. He didn’t see any action but did warm up with the team and would return to the lineup the next evening, Wednesday July 29.

Even that bounce back 9-4 victory left some doubt about whether or not the nightmare was over; the Freebirds outscored the B’s, 2-1, from the fifth through the ninth frame.

Oakland Ballers (5-9,27-35) 050 300 100 9 13 0

Yolo-Sutter Freebirds (4-10,19-43) 020 001 100 4 8 1

Winning pitcher: Christian Díaz (1-0, 2.35) Losing pitcher: Mark López ((0-3)

Cobb went only one for five on his return to action, but that included a run producing double to right center in the second. Oakland’s dynamic shortstop went 0-2 as a substitute DH on the 30^thand hasn’t played since then.
His status remains a serious concern. In short, the doubt about the B’s ability to consolidate their winning trend turned out to be justified.

That Thursday defeat at the hands of lowly Freebirds was the type of sobering experience that could drive you to drink.

Oakland Ballers (5-10,27-36) 100 002 101 5 9 1

Yuiba-Sutter Freebirds (5-10,20-43) 204 300 10x 10 10 1

Winning pitcher: Information not available. Losing pitcher: Griffin Smith (1-5)

Time: 2:39 Attendance: 403

I began this chronicle with some comments on the baleful effects of computer technology on the PBL, so it might be fitting for me to end my coverage of the games in Marysville, the most cyber dependent site in the league.Bryant Field

Is the only venue in the circuit that goes full ABS. The home plate umpire does not call balls and strikes, subject to challenges that are settled by ABS; he reads the ABS report on the scoreboard and calls out the result. Box scores from Marysville show up on the PBL’s website without the umpires’ last names, just their first name and initial, nor do they include who got the won, the lost, or the save. The failure of the reports isn’t necessarily the effect of the complete dependence on the ABS, but, as Thoreau said, “Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk.”

The Ballers convincing win on returning home on the last day of July raises some troubling questions about both the nature of the PBL and the on field performance of the B’s..

RedPocket Mobiles (1-15,13-51) 000 001 100 2 3 0

Oakland Ballers (6-10,28-36) 100 102 03x 7 10 0

Winnng pitcher: Charlie Hurley (2-5) Losing pitcher: Blayne Huter (3-2)

Time; 2:50 Attendance: 3,012

The RedPocket Mobiles, the Ballers’ victim Friday evening are a barnstorming team. They have no home ballpark, nort even a temporary or rolling one. They have, in short, no community. What does that tell us about the league’s commitment to community development?

The final score was a comfortable 7-2 in favor of the home team, but it wasn’t all that easy a win. RedPocket closed the gap between the two outfits to 2-1 after five and a half frames. It took a three run explosion in the bottom of the eighth before the Ballers’ advantage could be considered moderately secure by PBL standards.

Another point of concern were newcomer Julio Rosario’s three walks to the five batters he faced in seventh, a disappointment mitigated by his having struck out the other two. The Ballers once more demonstrated their penchant for shooting themselves in the foot when Mitchell Sanford ran into a third out that ended the home second in his first game at Raimondi. He, too, mitigated his error by smacking a drive into the the Mobiles’ bullpen that accounted for the three crucial Baller runs in the eight.

On a more lighthearted note, it was Grateful Dead Night, and the Ballers adopted the ad hoc pseudonym and jersey of Oaksterdam Blazers. They sold the latter at $70 each. The event lifted the crowd’s spirits and gained the team reams of press coverage.

The Ballers began August by celebrating a different sort of trip; it was Public Transit Day at the ballpark.

RedPocket Mobiles (1-16,13-52) 002 042 001 9 12 2

Oakland Ballers (7-10,29-36) 050 024 20X 13 12 2

Winning pitcher: Brock Mayer (1-0) Losing pitcher: Phillip Sanders (1-1)

Time: 2:55 Attendance: 2,431

The Ballers jumped off to an early lead of 5-0 after two innings and, even against a placeholdere team like the Mobiles, found themselves on the short end of 6-5 contest in the middle of the fifth. Each time committed two errors, all of them charged to infielders, and several runners reached base on hits that could have been scored as errors. I chalked some, but not all, of those plays to the hard infield, baked dry by the current heat wave.

Oakland staged a 2025 comeback win over the Mobiles to close out the series on Sunday, August 2. Down biy the East Coast working person’s score of nine to five, Esai Santos worked a walk, and a glimmer of hope that all was not lost began to arise. But Jaden Collura smacked a grounder to RedPockets first sacker Jordan Harrison-Dudley, whose fielding deficits would make Moose Skowron look like Vic Power. For all his weaknesses as a fielder, Harrison-Dudley made an accurate throw to shortstop Spence Coffman at second. And Coffman dropped the ball! An Allgeyer singled clogged the basepaths. Jeter Ybarra, who already had a couple of roundtrippers to his credit for the afternoon, smoked the ball into the right center field batting cages. (Nice touch, that). It was his 29^th four bagger of the year. It was only fitting that he should hit the deciding “home run”of the KO Inning. And he did.

RedPocket Mobiles (1-17,13-53) 005 100 111 9 13 1

Oakland Ballers (8-10,30-36) 001 001 013 9 13 1

There was no winning or losing pitcher. Oakland won in the first round of the Knock Out Inning, 1 (Jeter

Ybarra)-0 (Kishon Frett)

The manner in which the Ballers won the Shoot Out at the KO Corral is further evidence of the faults of that way of settling ties. The countdown clock on the score board hadn’t been reset when Kishon Frett began taking swings and the balls tossed his way. It was lucky for the B’s that RedPockets’ standard bearer’s five outs disqualified him. Otherwise, he would have had at least an extra minute left before the two minutes allotted knockout round batters would have expired.

The coming week will see three more games between the Mobiles and the Ballers, all starting at 6:35.Then it’s off to Marysville for three games robo-umped ball.

Oakland Ballers weekly report Jul 27-28

Published on July 29, 2026 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Oakland Ballers played this past week against the Boise Hawks on Sun Jul 26, 2026 at Raimondi Park in Oakland (Oakland Ballers photo)

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Oakland, CA

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–Another challenge is keeping up with the Ballers’ transactions. We usually find out about them when the PA announcer tells us that a player entering the game is making some sort of debut. The PCL’s transfer screen’s entry was out of date when I looked at it at 10:00 o’clock last night. Here’s the new information I found:

· The Ballers signed right handed pitcher Brock Mayer early in July.

· They acquired Myles Beale from the Schaumburg Boomers on July 3.

· They traded outfielder T.J .McKenzie to the Red Pocket Mobiles for a player to be named later.

· They received outfielder Mitchell Stanford from the Gateway Grizzlies in exchange for a player to be named later.

With the indispensable Tremayne Cobb still recovering from his injury, the slugging outfielder Tristan Moore and promising short stop T.J. Rogers got and will continue to get a lot of playing time.

This past week of Ballers baseball began on a bleak note. There was no expected date for the return of Tremayne Cobb, their key player, both offensively and defensively. Still, Miles’ Marauders fought on so well that it didn’t seem too unrealistic to hope that they could claw their way into the post season. But, before the team could even start to rise, it had to fall for the seventh straight time. That’s what it did in the first game of the second week of the second half of the baseball year, overwhelmed by the first half division champs from Long Beach.

The week also ended with an Oakland loss, but, oh, what a glorious ride separated the two defeats!

The B’s endured the six hour bus ride to Long Beach only to be caught in the undertow and drowned, 7-0, on Tuesday, July 21. The results of that no-contest gave no hint of the team’s return to life that would start on Wednesday.

Oakland Ballers (0-7,22-33) 000 000 000 0 6 0

Long Beach Coast (7-0,44-11) 100 320 10x 7 10 0

Winning pitcher: Jack Martin (6-0) Losing pitcher: Hunter Day (0-3)

Time: 2:33 Attendance: 1,831

The only Baller to get an extra base hit was Jake Allgeyer, whose leadoff double down the right field line was wasted. Brendan O’Sullivan, trying to fill Cobb’s cleats, was the only Oaklander who had a multi-hit game, and both of his singles also were wasted. Hunter Day, the first of five Baller hurlers, took the loss. He surrendered eight of the Coast’s ten hits and six of their seven runs. The other was charged to Chistian Díaz, and it was unearned, the result of a passed ball that allowed Patrick Roche to advance to second and score on Cooper Vest’s single to center.

The next evening, July 22, saw some extraordinary baseball. I’m not sure if any previous Pioneer Baseball League game had gone seven full innings with only one run having been scored. But this one did, and it was the Coast that scored it.

Oakland Ballers (1-7,23-33) 000 000 020 2 7 0

Long Beach Coast (7-1,44-12) 010 000 000 1 10 0

Wnning pitcher: Valek Cisneros (5-0) Losing pitcher: Johnathan Kozasky (1-1)

Save: Langston Burkett (2)

Time: 2:57 Attendance: 1,096

But then, in the top of the eighth, Esai Santos worked a full count walk and swiped second, moving on to third on Jeter Ibarra’s ground out to first, driving Jaxon Byrd, LBC’s third pitcher of the night, from the mound. Tristan Moore drove Jonathan Kozasky’s second offering into right field for a single that brought Santos home with the tying run, Allgeyer then walked on a full count, moving Moore into scoring position. Nick Leehey’s fly to right was deep enough to allow Moore to reach third. He scored from there on an error by second sacker Roche.

Thursday the 23^rdrolled in, and the Ballers just kept rolling along.

The game began with a celebrity start on the mound for Long Beach. He was their pitching coach, Jerome Williams, who had pitched for the San José and San Francisco Giants, not to mention the Long Beach Armada of Los Angeles of California of the United States of North America Including Barrow, Alaska. He faced four batters, walked one, struck out one, and retired his two other adversaries on ground outs.

I still think that Shoot Outs at the KO Corral are an abomination, but they bother me less when the Ballers win them. That’s what they did on Thursday. Neither team was able to send its best candidate to the plate. I say “best candidate” rather than “slugger” because it’s one thing to hit a home run against someone who’s trying to get you out; it’s another thing to hit a batting practice lob out of the park. We don’t know exactly what Cobb’s condition is, but we know he was unavailable on this ocassion. Oakland suffered another fright when Nick Leehey left the game in the top of the third after he fouled a pitch off his left foot. But he was back in action in Oakland the next day, pinch hitting for Tyler Rogers, although he was listed officially—thanks to the vagaries of the PBL’s tie breaker rules—as a catcher.

The Coast’s slugger Matthew Bardowell also was on the IL. Manager Miles sent Cam Bufford to the plate to take Oakland’s first post game swings. Nada. Troy Percival went with power hitting rookie Easton Jones. Zilch. Round two featured Jeter Ibarra, still leading the PBL in HR’s. Nothing. Ditto for Cooper Vest. Then came round three. Tristan Moore went to the plate for Oakland. The third time was the charm; it was Moore’s third game as a pro. His one “home run” bested Long Beach’s Jacob Jablonski’s two near misses.

Robert K. Fitts, has published an interesting article in the latest, Spring 2026, issue of the Baseball Research Journal, titled “How William “Big Chief” Watkins Began His Career as ‘a Japanese.’” After relating one of Watkins’ performances in 1905, he comments, “All the newspapers agreed that it was a sensational game ‘replete with lively hitting, speedy base running and good and bad fielding.’” Kind of like the game I’m commenting on right now.

Oakland Ballers (2-7,24-33) 010 053 010 10 14 0

Long Beach Coast (7-2,44-13) 060 022 000 10 10 4

There was no winning or losing pitcher. Oakland won in the third round of knockout innings.

The bus ride back to the East Bay still was six hours long; but they were more pleasant than they’d been on the previous two journeys.

The flame that was kindled in Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Long Beach, spluttered in Thursday’s nine frame draw, and recovered in the three round KO inning victory that followed it, finally burst into full glow on Friday, July 24, when the Bosie Hawks succumbed to the Ballers’ offense and, more notably, the superb mound work of Griffin Smith.

Boise Hawks (6-4, 29-29) 010 000 000 1 4 0

Oakland Ballers (3-7,25-33) 030 003 10x 7 11 0

Winning pitcher: Griffin Smith (1-4) Losing pitcher: Humberto Vela (0-2)

Time: 2:19 Attendance: 1,851

Not only was Smith’s performance only the second complete game thrown in the short , two and a half year history of the Pioneer Baseball League, but it was remarkable in light of the righty’s pregame record of 0-4, 11.32. Smith’s won-lost totals now art 1-4, and he’s lowered his ERA to a far from respectable, even for the PBL, 9.79. Jeremiah Begora’s leadoff four bagger in the second accounted for the only run scored against him.

Michael O’Hara, the hero of ’25 championship game, was welcomed as a prodigal son before the game. The fellow feeling lessened when he was announced as the beer batter. (He went one for four and was spared the infamy of a strike out).

Collura, Allgeyer, and Bufford, first, second, and third in the batting order, had multi-hit nights for the B’s, with two each. Collura and Buffford hit a double apiece, and Noah Blythe, Esai Santos,, T.J. Rogers and Brendan O’Sullivan also contributed a two bagger. The last two can play short, but they’re a long way from being able to fill the void left by Cobb. Nor were the Ballers free of self inflicted pain; Allgeyher ran into a final out in the bottom of the second.

On Saturday, July 25, the Ballers were far from the dominant team they’d been the night before. It took a two run homer in the bottom of the ninth to force a KO inning, in which Bufford’s bp fence clearing shot surpassed Wyatt Grant’s fruitless attempts at one and allowed the Oaklanders to snatch a precarious victory from the jaws of defeat.b

Bosie Hawks (6-5,29-30) 102 000 005 8 10 0

Oakland Ballers (4-7,26-33) 060 000 002 8 10 1

There were no winning or losing pitchers. Oakland won in first round of the KO inning, 1-0..

It was only a matter of time before the law of gravity would assert itself, and it asserted itself on the beautiful afternoon of Sunday, July 26, when the Ballers let a fourth inning four run lead skip away from them until they were trailing the Hawks 6-4 after seven and a half frames.

They narrowed the gap to 6-5 on Esai Santos’s tenth home run of the season only to see it widen to 7-5 when Julio Rosario, recently signed and missing from the list of transactions I gave at the beginning this column, came in to pitch in the top of the ninth.

He struck out Austin Folds, and retired Darryl Jackson on a ground out to third, but then walked Ethan Underwood, who stole second and scored on a double to left by Ryan Recio. In the bottom of the ninth, Jeter Ibarra increased his league leading home run count to 25 to close the gap to one run. But there already were two outs, and Leehey fanned for the final out of the game and the Ballers’ four game winning streak.

Bosie Hawks (7-5,38-38) 100 012 021 7 11 0

Oakland Ballers (4-8,26-34) 011 200 011 6 11 0

Winning Pitcher: Cameron Witte (1-0) Losing Pitcher: David Thomas (0-2)

Time:3:03 Attendance: 1,922

The Ballers’ brief winning streak that ended Sunday, brief as it was, is a hopeful sign. They will need to resume their winning ways and string together more stretches in which they come out on top over at least as many consecutive contests. No lead is safe in the Pioneer Baseball League, and I wouldn’t bet against a Ballers’ comeback that gets them into the playoffs, especially if Tremayne Cobb recovers soon.

The Ballers will take on the Yolo-Sutter Freebirds in Maryville at 7:05 tonight, Tuesday, through Thursday, and then return home for a Friday night game on July 31, which will beGrateful Dead Night. They have released this announcement to explain how special that night will be:

What started as an April Fool’s joke became one of the most requested ideas in Oakland Ballers history. On July 31, that joke becomes reality when the Oakland Ballers take the field as the Oaksterdam Blazers at Raimondi Park. The game marks a historic first in professional baseball, as the Ballers become the first professional team to partner with and celebrate the legal cannabis industry during a live game.

The on-field uniforms will feature the Oaksterdam Blazers name and will not include cannabis imagery or paraphernalia.

Game time on Friday will be 6:35. The game times and promotions for the two weekend games will be 4:35 for Public Transit Night (Ride The Rally) on Saturday and 1:05 for Soak The Town Sunday / First Responders Day on Sunday.

Oakland Ballers weekly report: Follow the Bouncing Ballers Mon Jul 20, 2026

Published on July 21, 2026July 23, 2026 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

The Oakland Banners suffered their fourth straight loss on Jul 17, 2026 (Oakland Ballers photo)

Oakland Ballers Weekly Report Mon Jul 20, 2026

By Lewis Rubman

Monday, July 20, 2026

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–The Oakland Ballers finished the first half of the 2026 Pioneer Baseball League on a high note, tying the Yolo-Sutter Freebirds in a stirring, come from behind finish to force a Knock Out Round that the B’s won, 4-3. The excitement of the game was, however, marred by the tone deaf attempt of the team’s management to shorten the contest by two innings.

Oakland could feel good about its four game winning streak, although that being its longest of the year was a sobering fact. Nonetheless, spirits were high as the B’s headed south to Long Beach. And go south was what they did.

The first encounter of the three game series in Long Beach took place on Bastille Day, Tuesday, July 14. The Ballers looked sharp for the first three innings and sharper still after five and a half, when they were ahead of the league leading Coast, 4-1.

But then that old Ballers nemesis, failure to execute, returned to the scene. Charlie Hurley, their starting pitcher, surrendered back to back walks, the first to Patrick Roche on a full count and the second to Cooper Vest on four pitches. Matthew Bardowell smacked a grounder to Jake Allgeyer, who whipped a throw to Nick Leehey, whose relay to Jeter Ybarra at first beat Bardowell to the bag for what looked like a rally killing around the horn double play.

But it was not to be; Leehy, it seemed, hadn’t touched second base, and, instead of two outs and empty bases, Hurley had to face Cuba Bess with runners on the corners and only one away. Bess drove Roche home with a ground out to first that also moved Vest over to third. Jacob Jablonsky’s single to right plated Vest before Emilio Corona’s homer to center crowned the Coastal rally to give the hosts a 9-4 lead.

That was it for Hurley; Valek Cisneros relieved him. It was only fitting that the first Long Beach batter he faced, Anthony Mata, reached base on an error by Leehey, who had not been charged with one earlier in the frame. After all, when keeping score you can’t anticipate a double play.

There were a few changes to the Ballers’ roster that day, not that you would have noticed it if you checked their or the league’s website, or even if you googled the Ballers’ transactions. Most notable was that Ahmad Harajjli, the player to be named later in the deal that sent C.J. Blowers to the Florence Y’Alls of the Frontier League, arrived and managed to give up two runs on three hits, two walks, and a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth. He faced eight batters.

The Ballers now show him in the roster, but when I clicked the link to get details about his record, the numbers were inconsistent with a recent arrival. I hope this will have been corrected by the time you read this. Harajilili had the excuse that he had taken an early morning, delayed departure flight from Kentucky. Other new acquisitions now on the roster but with inconsistencies in the details provided for them are Demias Jimerson, Reed Butz, and Austin Ballentine.

The line score looked like this:

Oakland Ballers (22-27) 000 022 000 4 10 1

Long Beach Coast (38-11) 001 004 52x 12 12 1

Winning pitcher: Jack Martin (5-0) Losing pitcher: Charlie Hurlley (1-4)

Time: 2:58 Attendance: 2,184

The Ballers returned to Blair Field the next day, Wednesday July 15, and once more blew a lead, only this time they hadn’t needed come back from a deficit to gain it..

The Ballers owed their brief advantage to Jaden Collura’s two run double off the Coast’s starting and eventually winning pitcher, the franchise player and manager’s son Cole Percival, in the top of the third, following walks to Esai Santos and Jake Allgeyer.

The B’s starter, Hunter Day, had been sharp in his first three innings of work. He issued a free pass to the first batter he faced, Eddy Pelc, a human walking machine, but he immediately was erased by a double play, and that was all the offence the Coast could muster until Cuba Bess’s two run double to right with two down broke the spell. Day’s terrific start became a footnote. A glance at the line score shows how rapidly Oakland, shut out after their pair of third inning runs, fell out of contention.

Oakland Ballers (22-28) 002 000 000 2 8 0

Long Beach Coast (39-11) 000 212 03x 8 10 0

Winning pitcher: Cole Percival (1-0) Losing pitcher: Hunter Day (0-2)

Save: Zach Voelker (10)

Time: 2:48 Attendance: 727

Voelker’s save made him the first PBL pitcher to reach double digits in that category this season

It was the Ballers’ seventh consecutive loss to the Coast.

Miles’ Militia needed to win the closing set-to of the series on Thursday the 16th if they were to get their first victory of the second half and avoid being swept away by a Coastal tidal wave. As you can see, they didn’t succeed.

Oakland Ballers (22-29) 010 332 000 9 13 1

Long Beach Coast (40-11) 004 230 03x 12 11 1

Winning pitcher: Gary Grosjean (3-1) Losing pitcher: Matthew Maloney (1-2) Save:

Zach Voelker (11)

Time: 3:55 Attendance: 717

The top of the fourth brought bad news to both teams. For the Ballers it was a disaster. For the Coast it was a pebble in their spiked shoes.

After Conner Smith walked to open the inning, he was erased in the front end of Myles Bearle’s second to first double play. Then Tremayne Cobb got things started again. A player who can beat you in many ways, he got a leg single to short and then went to second when Esai Santos singled to center. With Leehey at the plate, Santos and Cobb pulled off a double steal. Immediately upon sliding into third, Cobb visibly was in extreme pain. He was helped off the field with an injured left knee. This would be a concern for any player. It’s more than that for Cobb—ignoring the human side of the question for a moment and considering only what the incident could mean in terms of wins and loses—Oakland manager Aaron Miles believes that Cobb is the best player in the league. He might be right.

Jaden Collura pinch ran for Cobb, and Nick Leehey then shot a 389 foot home run to left field to tie the score at four. That was the pebble in Long Beach’s shoe.

The Coast regained the lead in the bottom of the frame, with two runs, one of them unearned thanks to an error by Ybarra. Those tallies came off Jacob Petersheim, who lasted on a third of an inning. The more I watch Ybarra, the more I suspect that there’s a physical problem that interferes with his mobility. He’s still an asset to the team; it would be difficult for the league’s leading home run hitter not to be.

I can’t give Petersheim anything but the benefit of the doubt. He might have impressive metrics like spin rate—I don’t know about that; and I don’t know how interpret data like that—but his more traditional numbers make me wonder—and I write this with a mixture of criticism and curiosity—why the Ballers ever offered him a contract. His college record over four years was 10-10-4 , 6.82. with an average of 9.4 runs scored against him every nine innings. His record with the Ballers as I write this is 0-1-0, 8.10, with 10.8 opponents’ runs per nine innings.

The Ballers showed the grit that had characterized them in their glorious season of 2025 .They scored a three runs in the fifth on RBI singles by Brendan O’Sullivan and Conner Smith and a bases loaded walk to Leehey to give them a short lived 7-6 advantage that was wiped out in the bottom half of the frame by Patrick Roche, Jr.’s single to center with Walking Eddy Pelc on board. Cuba Bess followed that up with a two run four bagger to right. Oakland fought back with a run producing single to right by Paul Winfield that plated O’Sullivan and a sac fly by Myles Beale that brought inWinfield, who had advanced to third, with the Ballers’ last hurrah.

Many fans know that Willie Mays never considered The Catch his best defensive play. What he took most pride in was the throw he made from the Polo Grounds’ center field vastness was that, although Larry Doby was able to advance to third on the play, he had to hold up there and couldn’t score what would have been the tying run. Jaylen Edmonds , pinch running for Matthew Bardowell, was able to score from second Cooper Vest’s sacrifice fly to right.

In addition to the pitchers I’ve already mentioned, Oakland used Jake Villar, Valek Cisneros, Matthew Maloney, who was charged with the loss, and Langston Burkett. Cisneros was the only one who was effective, allowing just a walk and a hit batter over three full innings. The Ballers tried twice to appeal the play, but the umpires refused to approve the appeal. Since the call was a matter of judgement and not one of interpretation, Oakland couldn’t play the game under protest.

It was all over but the shouting. The Ballers went down one, two, three in the top of the ninth and then boarded the team bus for the six hour drive to Oakland. It was not the best preparation they could have made for the next evening’s scheduled 6:35 start against their nemesis from the north, the Modesto Roadsters.

When the Baller followers arrived at Raimondi Park for that game on the seventeenth, the baseball question that was troubling many of them concerned the state of Tremayne Cobb’s knee. The reports that I got from the players I spoke with were that he was in good spirits but that the club wasn’t counting on their spark plug shortstop to see action before next week.

It took Modesto four batters to put Oakland behind by three runs; clean up hitter Osiris Johnson’s full count homer over the low left field fence with Lucas Terilli and Jacob Lojewski on base took care of that. Modesto had to wait for their number four batter to do the job because their offense had stalled when their number three bat, Max Handron flew out to Beale at the left field wall.

The Ballers originally had announced righty Griffin Smith as their starting pitcher. However, another portsider, Aidan Risse, took the mound and the loss for the B’s.. Modesto never trailed after that, first inning onslaught although Oakland did retaliate with a pair of two run bombs, one in each of the fourth and fifth frames. The first blast came off the bat of Jeeter Ibarra, who extended his hitting streak to 18 games and his league leading home run total to 22. The second round tripper was courtesy of Jared Collura, who has been finding a new home for himself in left field while Conner Smith takes over more of the team’s catching duties. Recent acquisition Ahmded Harajlli pitched two scoreless innings before getting hammered for two runs on Max Handron’s double and Johnson’s round tripper, both to left, before he was yanked and replaced by Brock Mayer, who held visitors hitless for two frames before giving way to Brady Chávez, who also shut them down without a hit. Each of the Ballers’ mopper uppers granted the Roadsters one toll free passage to first base.

To sum it up,

Modesto Roadsters (31-21) 304 002 000 9 9 0

Oaland Ballers (22-30) 010 220 000 5 9 2

Winning pitcher: Devyn Hernández (4-1) Losing pitcher: Aidan Risse (2-5)

Time: 2:58 Attendance: 1,833

The game had started under balmy skies with the thermometer reading 81^o. It, like the number and spirits of the spectators, dropped precipitously over the nearly three hours of wouldabeen, shouldabeens. There was no objective way to quantify the spirits or the number of people who stayed to the chilly end, but the temperature drop was 16 degrees.

Saturday, July 18 was Tyler Lozano Take Over Day. The B’s mainstay backstop of 2024 and ’25 one-upped Bert Campanaris and Martín Dihigo. The former had played an inning of at each position over the course of one nine inning game in 1965. The latter had played all of them and also managed over the course of a lifetime. Lozano played a different ballpark role each inning. He caught the top of the first and threw out Terilli when Modesto’s leadoff hitter tried to steal second. At bat, Lozano struck out leading off the home first. Then he went to broadcast booth and threw out rubber balls to the crowd below him. Next, he went into the stands to toss hot dogs. He coached at first base. I lost track of where he was and what he was doing after that but found the time to wonder if the Ballers had managed to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, would he have been eligible to replace the injured Tremayne Cobb as the team’s Knock Out Round representative.

This time, Griffin Smith really did start for the Ballers. He pitched well, by PBL standards, going six full innings and giving up three runs, all earned, on six hits and a walk after throwing 85 pitches.But the bullpen let him down, and Smith and the Ballers ended up on the short end of another union work day score of nine to five. This is how that developed:

Modesto Roadsters (32-21) 010 000 431 9 11 1

Oakland Ballers (22-31) 000 001 121 5 6 0

Winning pitcher: Omar Serrano (4-1) Losing pitcher: Griffin Smith (0-4)

Time:2:59 Attendance: 1,944

The next afternoon, Sunday July 19, we celebrated the achievements of the guy in the center of this photo:

Modesto also would have been a fitting venue for a celebration of The Man of Steal. He hit.345 in 134 games for the 1977 Modesto A’s of the Classs A California League. His OPS was an incredible .934, not to mention his 95 stolen bases in 117 attempts.

The ball game that followed the celebration was a horror story. Its synopsis fits in these few lines.:

Modesto Roadsters (33-21) 113 140 020 12 13 2

Oakland Ballers (22-32) 010 010 001 3 11 1

Winning pitcher: Corbin Talley (4-1) Losing pitcher: Charlie Hurley (1-5)

Time: 2:58 Attendance: 1,375

About the only bright spot for the B’s was that Ibarra was able to extend his hitting streak to 20 games. The sunny skies, complimented by a temperature that scarcely varied from the 64^oit stood at when the game began, took some of the sting out of watching the Ballers’ tepid performance.

Raimondi Park has a capacity of 4,001, but Sunday’s attendance was only 1,375 in spite of the beautiful weather, the chance kids had to run the bases and get autographs after the game, and, of course, the added attraction of the homage to Rickey Henderson. The most likely explanation for this disappointing turnout was the scheduling conflict between the attractions in West Oakland and the broadcast of the World Cup final.

That is but one way in which scheduling has become a concern around 20^th and Wood. Under the financially challenged Pioneer Baseball League’s new travel saving format, the Ballers will be on the road Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and play at home Friday night, Saturday mid-afternoon, and early Sunday afternoon. Remember that six hour bus ride from Long Beach? I also heard some grousing from ballpark workers about these new arrangements.

This situation raises a really troubling question. What happens if the PBL goes out of business?

Do the Ballers go to semi-pro league like the Pecos? Do they and a few other clubs try to form a new circuit? Or do they dry up, like a raisin in the sun?

For the time being, carpe diem. The B’s will play this coming Tuesday through Thursday nights in Long Beach and then take another six hour bus ride to face the Boise Hawks at the usual three different starting times over the week-end.

Oakland Ballers weekly report: Follow The Bouncing Ballers 7/5/26 and 7/6/26

Published on July 6, 2026 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Oakland Ballers outfielder Noah Blythe (27) take a big cut at the plate against the visiting Yuba Sutter Freebirds on Sat Jul 4, 2026 at Raimondi Field in Oakland (Oakland Ballers photo)

Monday, July 6, 2026

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–When, on June 28^th, the Ballers closed out their home stand with back to back wins over the team formerly known as the Yolo High Wheelers but now sporting the moniker Yuba-Sutter Freebirds, it wasn’t unreasonable to hope that the Raimondi Rowdies had recovered the knack of flirting with disaster but going to bed with success. But when the Pioneer Baseball League resumed play this past Tuesday, June 30^th, the Ballers fell back into their newly acquired bad habit of ceding the last and deciding comeback to their opponent.

That opponent was the Long Beach Coast, a new entrant in the PBL’s newly named and restructured South Division of the Pioneer Baseball League. As a new creation, the Coast don’t have an old name they could discard, but they manage to have an alias, the Regulators, which they often spring on their opponents. Whatever name the tenants of Blair Field assume, they also have a hell of a lot of talent. When the July 4^thweek end was over, they led the 12 team circuit with a won-lost record of 32-10, a half a game ahead of the runner up Billings Mustangs.

The Ballers, on the other hand, were like the little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead; when she was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid. Milton Berle changed that to “when she was bad, she was popular.” That’s not the case with the Ballers anywhere outside of their home territory. as the three digit attendance figures for several of their road games indicate, but there’s no denying that they’ve been playing some pretty horrid baseball recently. It showed in the line score.for the last day of June

Oakland Ballers (16-22) 100 400 101 7 11 1

Long Beach Coast (30-8) 000 313 001 8 9 1

Winning pitcher: Zach Voelker (2-2) Losing pitcher: Matthew Maloney (1-1)

Time: 3:12 Attendance: 1,984

Valek Cisneros, who was winner of the B’s previous game, in which they had defeated Yuba-Sutter in Oakland, opened the door for the Long Beach victory on Tuesday. He entered the game in the sixth inning, trying to protect a 5-4 lead and allowed three runs on a hit, two walks, and a wild pitch. To his credit, only one of those runs was earned, but that was enough to tie the score at five. The unearned tallies put Oakland fell behind, 7-5. A Conner Smith homer to left closed the gap to a single run in the top of the seventh.

The Ballers almost pulled off when of their vaunted comebacks when, with two out and the bases empty, in the top of the ninth, Jeter Ybarra blasted a 2-0 pitch over the left field wall to knot the score at seven.

It was up to Matthew Mahoney, coming in to relieve Connor Goodwin, to hold the Coast in check and take us to a knock out round. He walked Cuba Bess on four pitches. Jaylen Edmonds ran for Bess and promptly stole second. Jacob Jablonski walked on the ninth pitch of a full count walk. Anthony Mata lay down a sacrifice bunt, fielded by Mahoney. This text book move allowed Johnny Pappas’s sacrifice fly to left to score the winning run of this too little, too late disappointment.

The new month saw a variation on the theme with which the old month had ended. Oakland made a valiant comeback attempt that fell just short and lost to Long Beach, 8-7. A detail of the line score rubs Long Beach salt water in the Ballers’ wounds; they outhit their hosts, 15-1.

Oakland Ballers (17-2) 001 100 122 7 15 1

Long Beach Coast (30-8) 015 020 00x 8 5 1

Winning pitcher: Jake Dixon (2-0) Losing pitcher: Charlie Hurley (1-3)

Time: 3:14 Attendance: 736.

It was close, but no cigar. Cole Percival relieved Steve Odorica after he had walked Allgeyer to open the visitors’ ninth. A Collura double and Ybarra single, and a passed ball with Brendan O’Sullivan at bat with two down allowed the B’s to draw tantalizingly close, but O’Sullivan fanned, stranding Ybarra on second

There were some interesting personnel notes to this night’s happening. One of the few portions of the PBL’s rule book that are available to the public are those pertaining to eligibility. One of those rules authorizes each team to carry a franchise player. The requirements for such a designation are that the player

· Must have previously played at least two full years in the PBL.

· Must have finished the immediately prior season on that specific club’s roster.

· Can only be tagged as a Franchise Player for a maximum of one year.

· Can serve in a player-coach capacity.

Cole Percival, the reliever who almost blew the game in the ninth is the son of the Coast’s skipper, Troy Percival..

The other personnel item is that Oakland’s starting pitcher, Nick Bautista, who pitched decently by Pioneer League standards (two runs, both earned, on seven hits, two walks, and a hit batter in 4-2/3 innings, was traded by Oakland to Long Beach before the season began. For some reason, unknown to me, the trade was voided or never was consummated.

July 2^nd offered us a change from the couldof/wouldof spectacles of the two previous days, a complete baller meltdown. The Coast beat up on four Oakland pitchers to win, 14-1. It was the reductio ad absurdum of a Ballers blown lead; the B’s led, 1-0, after 2-1/2 innings of play.

They never threatened again, making it easy for southpaw Garrett VanDeventer to throw the first complete game since the league was founded in 2024.

The B’s hit into two double plays and blew several chances to turn them against Long Beach in the middle innings.

Oakland Ballers (16-23) 010 000 000 1 9 3

Long Beach Coast (31-8) 003 002 45x 14 10 1

Winning pitcher: Garrett VanDeventer (3-0) Losing pitcher: Griffin Smith (0-2)

Time: 2:37 Attendance: 1,089

The Oakland entourage returned home at about 10:00 the next morning, Friday, July 3, before moving on to a 7:11 start in Modesto that evening. At least they would have a legitimate excuse for a sloppy performance. And they did make play sloppy baseball, O’Sullivan let a double play ball pop out of his glove and hit third base umpire Alan Walker cost only one run, but it set the tone for a team that already was in a slump, not having won a single game so far on this road trip.. That was the only error chalked up against the B’s, but subsequent plays like Leehee’s failure to corral Santos’s perfect throw that turned what would have been the third out in the seventh into a double for 최병용 (that’s Byungyong Choi to you and me) are errors that don’t show up on the score sheet. Bradford’s misadventures in left during the wind tossed eighth were explicable because his recent role had been DH. Explicable or not, they had a lethal effect and sealed the Ballers eventual and seemingly inevitable doom. Neither his bumbling nor the exculpatory history behind it is a matter of statistical record.

Bad base running, like Cobb’s attempt to stretch a single in the fifth are costly self defeating mistakes but are missing in action when you look at the box or line score.

Speaking of which, the grim line score went like this (note the early two run lead, that marks the kiss of death):

Oakland Ballers (16-24) 200 010 000 3 9 1

Modesto Roadsters (25-15) 013 000 03x 7 13 0

Winning pitcher: Anthony Díaz (1-0) Losing pitcher: Hunter Day (0-1)

Time: 2:45 Attendance: 4,37

The Ballers’ 8-4 come from behind victory on Independence Day offered a glimpse of their ability to lose a lead and then regain it, raising hopes that, although long eliminated from the first half championship race, the team might come back and still qualify for the league crown with a second half surge. But it also demonstrated how damaging the squad’s sloppy play could be. Again, there were reasons for the sloppiness: Friday’s physically and emotionally exhausting game, the holiday’s 2:50 game time, and the 94^o heat were challenges withwhich both teams had to contend. The Ballers did it better.

Oakland Ballers (17-24) 100 210 022 8 15 2

Modesto Roadsters (25-16) 012 100 000 4 8 0

Winning pitcher: Valek Cisneros (1-0) Losing pitcher: Preston Kelly (0-1)

Tremayne Cobb once more led the Oakland attack, going three for five, including a home run to left on the second pitch of the game and an RBI double to center in the eighth episode. He hit another two bagger to center in the ninth. that one producing two runs. C.J. Blowers, the number one hurler in the Ballers rotation ,started the game for the B’s. As usual, he pitched decently by PBL standards, giving up four runs, all earned, on eight hits in 5-2/3 innings. He is the son of journeyman third baseman Mike Blowers, who played 129 games and hit .237 for or the Oakland Athletics (remember them?) in 1998.His moment of glory in that lackluster season came on May 18, when he hit for the cycle against the White Sox. He went on to become the television commentator of the Seattle Mariners. Here’s a link to his contribution to baseball lore. It’s worth watching and listening to:. https://www.facebook.com/Mariners/videos/happy-birthday-to-mariners-broadcaster-mike-blowers-/1823433321474713/

The bottom of the sixth in the July Fourth game illustrates why frequent mistakes, whatever their circumstantial causes may be, have long run consequences. Valek Cisneros relieved Blowers with the Ballers hanging on to a 4-3 lead and a runner on first and one away. Osiris Johnson hit the ball to Brian O’Sullivan at third (remember him from the previous night’s fiasco?), and, instead the side being retired, Modesto now had the potential tying run in scoring position and the potential leading run on first. Cisneros fanned Justin Boyd and then made his own fielding error, putting both runners in scoring position. Cisneros then retired the dangerous Tyler Williams, who finished the day with a .362 batting average, on a seven pitch groundout to second..

When you can’t trust your fielders to do their job, you’ll try to strike out every batter you face, and that’s no way to do your job. This time, Cisneros did his (if you forget about his own fielding lapse)), and Langston Burkett, who replaced him for the home half of the ninth, did his, and the Ballers survived to play a rubber game on Sunday, July 5.

They should have saved themselves the trouble. A game time of 11:00 in the morning of Sunday, July 5 and a temperature that reached into the 90s didn’t help, even though the Oaklanders had spent the night at Modesto’s Double Tree Hilton.

The game was such so long and lopsided that the official scorer didn’t bother to record the time of the final out or calculate the duration of the non contest.. (I found it by clicking on to the Ballers’ Youtube channel and checking the length of the broadcast).

Oakland Ballers (17-25) 000 003 001 4 14 0

Modesto Roadsters (26-16) 520 571 00x 20 22 0

Winning pitcher: Devyn Hernández (3-1,4.57) Losing pitcher: Aiden Risse (1-5,4.51)

Time: 3:40 Attendance: 455

Although Oakland’s offense managed only four runs, it did put together 14 hits. Modesto jumped ahead and never was headed off. All of Oakland’s runs were scored in two innings, three in the sixth and one in the ninth.

(Y)our battered Ballers hope to bounce back tomorrow, Tuesday the seventh, in the first of three more games against the Roadsters, this time in Raimondi Park. As they always are on Tuesdays in Ballerland, the cheap seats go for two dollars. The theme for this game is

“Immigrants: We Get the Job Done,” and the pin that the first 750 fans will receive looks like a grand addition to your collection (if you have one).

Game time is 6:35, the same as on the remaining weekday contests. That consistency might introduce a welcome element of stability for the Ballers as they try to regroup for the season’s second half, which will start in a week, on Tuesday, July 14.

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

Published on June 30, 2026June 30, 2026 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 23^rdcontest.

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 24^th.

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 25^th, 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 21^st, was somewhat better in this game; the run he allowed in his two inning stint was unearned.

Back at 10^th Wood, on Friday the 26^th 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 64^o.. 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 28^th. 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 20^th 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 30^ththrough July 2^nd. 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: Long Beach and Oakland end up in 7-7 tie; plus more game coverage

Published on June 23, 2026June 23, 2026 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Trymayne Cobb (3) looks at this handywork during the home run derby after the Oakland Ballers and Long Beach Coast both finished in a 7-7 draw at Raimondi Park in Oakland on Tue Jun 16, 2026 (Oakland Ballers photo)

FOLLOW THE BOUNCING BALLERS

Monday, June 22, 2026

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–Oh, you can go to the east go to the west,
But someday you’ll come

Weary at heart back where you started from.

You’ll find your happiness lies, right under your eyes
Back in your own back yard.

Al Jolson sang it over a century ago; the Oakland Ballers lived it—or at least some of it—last Tuesday, June 16^th, when they returned to the embrace of Scrappy the Rally Possum at Raimondi Park. They beat the nearly invincible Long Beach Coast, 8-7. by winning that abomination, the knock out round, in a game that featured excellent starting pitching, another loss of a comfortable lead, chill night winds, and a lot of fun.

But first a word from Lewis Rubman’s Collection of Connections You Might Not Have Thought Of:

You don’t usually expect T.S. Eliot to pontificate on baseball, although he wasn’t adverse to proclaiming his opinions on a wide range of topics. Parody is a way to pass judgement on its target, and Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, the source of the Broadway musical Cats, contains a parody of “Casey at the Bat.” If you don’t want to read the whole thing, feel free to put it in your scrap book, next to your clippings about the Ballers’ mascot. The poem is called “Growltiger’s Last Stand,” and it goes like this:

Growltiger was a Bravo Cat, who travelled on a barge:
In fact he was the roughest cat that ever roamed at large.
From Gravesend up to Oxford he pursued his evil aims,
Rejoicing in his title of ‘The Terror of the Thames’.

His manners and appearance did not calculate to please;
His coat was torn and seedy, he was baggy at the knees;
One ear was somewhat missing, no need to tell you why,
And he scowled upon a hostile world from one forbidding eye.

The cottagers of Rotherhithe knew something of his fame;
At Hammersmith and Putney people shuddered at his name.
They would fortify the hen-house, lock up the silly goose,
When the rumour ran along the shore: GROWLTIGER’S ON THE LOOSE!

Woe to the weak canary, that fluttered from its cage;
Woe to the pampered Pekinese, that faced Growltiger’s rage;
Woe to the bristly Bandicoot, that lurks on foreign ships,
And woe to any Cat with whom Growltiger came to grips!

But most to Cats of foreign race his hatred had been vowed;
To Cats of foreign name and race no quarter was allowed.
The Persian and the Siamese regarded him with fear –
Because it was a Siamese had mauled his missing ear.

Now on a peaceful summer night, all nature seemed at play,
The tender moon was shining bright, the barge at Molesey lay.
All in the balmy moonlight it lay rocking on the tide –
And Growltiger was disposed to show his sentimental side.

His bucko mate, GRUMBUSKIN, long since had disappeared,
For to the Bell at Hampton he had gone to wet his beard;
And his bosun, TUMBLEBRUTUS, he too had stol’n away –
In the yard behind the Lion he was prowling for his prey.

In the forepeak of the vessel Growltiger sat alone,
Concentrating his attention on the Lady GRIDDLEBONE.
And his raffish crew were sleeping in their barrels and their bunks –
As the Siamese came creeping in their sampans and their junks.

Growltiger had no eye or ear for aught but Griddlebone,
And the Lady seemed enraptured by his manly baritone,
Disposed to relaxation, and awaiting no surprise –
But the moonlight shone reflected from a hundred bright blue eyes.

And closer still and closer the sampans circled ’round,
And yet from all the enemy there was not heard a sound.
The lovers sang their last duet, in danger of their lives –
For the foe was armed with toasting forks and cruel carving knives.

Then GENGHIS gave the signal to his fierce Mongolian horde;
With a frightful burst of fireworks the Chinks they swarmed aboard.
Abandoning their sampans, and their pullaways and junks,
They battened down the hatches on the crew within their bunks.

Then Griddlebone she gave a screech, for she was badly skeered;
I am sorry to admit it, but she quickly disappeared.
She probably escaped with ease, I’m sure she was not drowned –
But a serried ring of flashing steel Growltiger did surround.

The ruthless foe pressed forward, in stubborn rank on rank;
Growltiger to his vast surprise was forced to walk the plank.
He who a hundred victims had driven to that drop,
At the end of all his crimes was forced to go ker-flip, ker-flop.

Oh there was joy in Wapping when the news flew through the land;
At Maidenhead and Henley there was dancing on the strand.
Rats were roasted whole at Brentford, and at Victoria Dock,
And a day of celebration was commanded in Bangkok.

After that detour through trivial erudition, reading the line score from last Tuesday, June 16th may come as a relief.

Long Beach Coast (19-6) 000 011 302 7 10 1

Oakland Ballers (12-13) 212 000 111 7 11 1

There was no winning or losing pitcher.

KO round. Oakland: Cobb: 4; Long Beach:

Bardowell, 3.

OAKLAND–The Ballers had their followers singing “You only build me up to let me down” as Oakland built up a 5-0 lead over the first four innings. The B’s bats were blazing. Tremayne Cobb, who would get three for four with a walk and a double in the game and four dingers to win the knockout inning for his team in the first round, started it all with a single to center.

Three batters later, Jared Collura, who would go two for four, launched a blast over the BART sign in left field, and the Ballers were on their way. But from the fifth through the bottom of the ninth it was deja vû all over again.

Back to back doubles to left by Jacob Jablonski and Johnny Pappas shaved Oakland’s lead to 5-1. As the song says, little things mean a lot. Patrick Roche’s solo shot to left center with one down in, the sixth, and it was 5-2.

Valek Cisneros replaced C.J. Blowers on the mound to face the Coast in the seventh. He got Cuba Bess to line out Davis Drewek in left center. Emilio Corona also to left center, but the 1-1 pitch Cisneros sent his way ended up over the fence, and the B’s now led by two tiny tallies, a spec in a gnat’s eye in the PBL.

Another hit to left center, Jacob Jablonski’s single to (you guessed it) left center brought the potential tying run to the plate. A passed ball put Jablonski in scoring position. Cisneros walked Johnny Pappas, and the potential leading run was at bat in the person of Derek Laferriere. Cisneros fanned him on a full count and gave way to Dylan Delvecchio, a southpaw, as was Blowers. Edy Pelc hit to left center, a single that drove in Jablonski with the tying run and moved Pappas to third.

Delvecchio loaded the bases by hitting Cooper Vest with a pitch, and Langston Burkett, whose uniform number had been 0 but now was 13, struck Matt Bardowell nine pitch full count to preserve what now was a precarious tie.

Jeter Ybarra smacked a Julién Hernández fast ball a long way from home, 401 feet to be precise, over the center field wall. The blast gave Oakland the lead in the game and Ybarra the top spot among the league’s home run hitters.

Pesky Eddy Pelc led off the ninth with a round tripper to center off Brandon Nelson, who had relieved ‘Burkett in the eighth. Things got worse after that.

Roche walked and moved up a base when Vest was hit by a pitch. Both advanced another

90 feet on a wild pitch. With a full count on Bardowell, Nelson managed a called third strike. Cuba Bess then was called on to hit for Jaylin Edmonds. Bess grounded into a force out at second that plated Roche. Nelson handed the ball to Matthew Malone, who retired the side. But the damage had been done, and the Ballers now trailed, 7-6.

Zach Voelker took over mound duties for Long Beach and fanned Cobb. He then gave a free pass to Esai Santos on the sixth pitch of a full count. T.J. McKenzie replaced him as a pinch runner and advanced to second on Jake Allgeyer’s infield hit, also to second.

T.J. McKenzie pinch ran for Esai Santos. Collura, as he had in the first, came through. He singled to center and took second when McKenzie was thrown out, Corona to Roche, when he tried to take third on Colllura’s hit. Noah Blyth flew out to right, ending the inning.

That brought on the Shoot Out at the K.O. Corral. Cobb’s four “home runs” bested Bardwell’s three.

You probably are at least as exhausted from reading this prolix recapitulation of the Ballers thorny path to victory against the Coast as I am from writing it. I’ll try, for your sake and mine, to limit the rest of this column to the line scores and some brief comments about what made the game interesting to me.

Sgt. Joe Friday used to say on Dragnet, the popular police procedural television show of the 1950s “Just the facts, M’am.”. I’ll try to do that, but I probably won’t be able to resist saying, as Sgt. Colombo did 20 years later on the show that bore his name, “Just one more thing, sir [or M’am, as the case may be….]”

It was Parks and Recreation Day for the Wednesday afternoon encounter that wrapped up the Long Beach-Oakland series on the seventeenth.. There was very little recreation for the hosts, who took an early lead (what else is new?) with a Jaden Collura double that drove in Tremayne Cobb in the first inning.

The Miles’ Minions, fell behind by two in the second frame, and, in spite of a three run sixth, never came close to catching up with their guests. The final reconning was 12-8. Jeter Ybarra homered in the fourth and ninth, bringing his league leading total up to 14.

Nick Leehey extended his hitting streak to eight games. Without minimizing the importance of winning games, we should remember that one of the purposes of partner leagues like the Pioneer, is to foster the development of young talent. To return to the long digression with which I began this week’s column, T.S. Eliot coined the phrase, “Tradition and Individual Talent.” The PBL isn’t particularly traditional, but it does provide individuals of talent for the traditional teams of MLB and MiLB.

R H E

Long Beach Coast (20-6) 103 400 505 18 21 0

Oakland Ballers (12-14) 100 000 130 5 7 0

Winning pitcher :Nathan Hemmerling (2-0) Losing pitcher: Michael Riley (1-1)

Time: 3:17 Attendance: 2,991

The Coast’s hitting stand outs were Matthew Bardowell, who got five hits in six Abs, including a pair of two baggers and a round tripper, driving in three runs in the process

Derek Laferriere and first baseman Cooper Vest got four hits each. Vest’s included a double and a home run. Jaden Collura was the only Baller with a multiple hits. He got two, one of which was a double.

I’ve reported recently on the success of previous Baller pitchers who have moved on to major league organizations. The winning on Thursday the eighteenth was a one time Baller who had moved on to another PBL team. Nick Bautista allowed three runs, all earned, on eight hits and a walk in five innings on the bump. Those are respectable numbers in the hitter friendly, erratically fielding Pioneer Baseball League.

R H E

Long Beach Coast (21-6) 031 232 100 12 16 0

Oakland Ballers (12-15) 100 103 012 8 13 1

Winning pitchers: Nick Bautista (3-1) Losing pitcher: Aidan Rise (1-3)

Time: 3:15 Attendance:1,607.

On Friday the nineteenth J.T. Snow’s Modesto Roadsters made their first appearance in a regular season game at Raimondi Park. Tremayne Cobb placed a roadblock to their hopes by smacking a couple of home runs, the second of which was a three RBI walk off fence clearer that allowed the Ballers to sneak past their powerful rival to the north. Nick Leehey’s round tripper, this one a shot to left with Cam Bufford on base, put the B’s on the comeback trail and extended the second baseman’s hitting streak to nine games. It was his third dinger in as many games.

R H E

Modesto Roadsters (16-12) 310 000 010 5 8 0

Oakland Ballers (13-15) 000 020 023 7 7 1

Winning pitcher: Matthew Maloney (1-0) Losing pitcher: Mike Cardinal (1-2)

Time: 2:39 Attendance:1,850

The Ballers’ recovery was stalled on Saturday afternoon. Although their performed well enough to a dozen runs on as many hits, their pitchers misfired. Only one of the four they used was unscored upon, and I’ll get to that after I give you the line score.

R H E

Modesto Roadsters (17-12) 052 300 530 18 13 2

Oakland Ballers (13-16) 300 400 122 12 12 1

Winning pitcher: Aaron Moreno (3-1) Losing pitcher: Griffin Smith (0-1)

Time:3:20 Attendance: 2,710

Now, to what got my goat: I wrote this on June 29, 2024 for Sports Radio Service:

In my report on last Saturday’s Baller-Yolo High Wheelers game in Davis, I discussed JP Gates pitching in relief to two Yolo batters without retiring the side and then being replaced by Connor Richardson without any objection by the umpires or High Wheelers.

It caused quite a buzz in the press box. Tyler Peterson, the B’s sportscaster on 860 AM was especially animated, but no one in the press box, including the knowledgeable Doug Greenwald, had an explanation for this violation of the three batter or last out of the inning rule.

After this afternoon’s contest, I had a chance to talk with the Ballers’ manager, Micah Franklin. He had a very simple explanation for this puzzling event; that rule doesn’t exist in the Pioneer League. There’s a certain irony to this. A few days before I went to Davis to cover the game, I wrote to the league offices to ask how I could acquire their rule book. Their answer came after I’d returned to Oakland. They said the rule book wasn’t available to the public. Go figure.

In Saturday’s game, the right fielder, Noah Blyhte, relieved the pitcher, Diylan Del Vecchio, and Esai Santos entered the game to play in right. The game was delayed for at least 15 minutes while home plate umpire Robert Headley and both teams’ managers discussed the fine points of who should bat in what slot. We never got a clear explanation. In any case, Blythe came to bat and flew out.

Since 2024, I’ve been trying to get a copy of the PBL’s rule book. The most recent response came about a week ago. They sent me a ticket and told me to wait.

Go figure.

Sunday’s loss was marked by all sorts of rookie mistakes: trying to take the extra base when caution would have been preferable, throwing to the wrong base, that sort of baseball growing pains. I’ll give you the line score, make some observations which seem relevant to me, but that’s for you to decide, and then call it a day.

R H E

Modesto Roadsters (18-12) 172 113 210 18 15 1

Oakland Ballers (13-17) 104 100 200 8 12 1

Winning pitcher: Johan Castillo (3-1) Losing pitcher: Jacob Petersheim (0-1)

Time:2:59 Attendance: 3,277 BTW: It was Petersheim’s pro debut

As I drove home, I thought about the rookie mistakes I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Then I listened to a CD of the anecdotes with which Hall of Fame pitcher Waite Hoyt, who enjoyed a 24 year career as the radio voice of the Cincinnati Reds, would regale his listeners during rain delays.

Hoyte was the losing pitcher in the final game of the 1926 World Series, the one in which Tony Lazzeri hit the foul ball that comes closer to having been a home run each time someone tells the story. Hoyt didn’t dwell on that classic moment; he said that Grover Cleveland Alexander pitch well and that he struck out Lazzeri.

What rankled the pitcher turned announcer was the bone head plays of a couple of his teammates that had allowed the Cardinals to take the lead. If members of the powerful 1926 New York Yankees, how can you blame youngsters just starting out on their baseball careers for trying to take the extra base at the wrong time?

The Ballers will hit the road for a three game series against Modesto in Modesto. Game time will be 7:11 each day, Tuesday through Thursday. Then they’ll come home to face the Yuba-Sutter Firebirds on Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

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

Published on June 9, 2026June 9, 2026 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
Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	WP	BF	AB	NP	ERA
Michael Riley	2.1	8	9	9	2	1	3	0	17	14	53	12.27
Derek Murphy	3.2	2	3	3	2	3	0	0	18	13	74	11.17
Jake Tirk (L, 0-2)	1.0	5	3	3	0	2	0	0	7	7	26	13.50
Campbell Spradling	1.0	3	3	3	1	1	0	0	7	6	25	7.04

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 Report: Follow the bouncing Ballers

Published on May 28, 2026May 28, 2026 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:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Long Beach Coast	2	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	1	11	10	1
Oakland Ballers	0	3	0	0	1	4	1	0	3	12	9	1

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 May 26, 2026 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

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 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

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

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Long Beach Coast	2	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	1	11	10	1
Oakland Ballers	0	3	0	0	1	4	1	0	3	12	9	1