Bufford Bashes Five Bombs in KO Round Demolition
Competing in his first-ever knockout round, Cam Bufford started off on the wrong foot, grounding his first two swings to the left side of the infield.
By Nevada Cullen
KALISPELL, Mont. -- Competing in his first-ever knockout round, Cam Bufford started off on the wrong foot, grounding his first two swings to the left side of the infield. So, with some guidance from assistant coach James Harris tossing the ball to him, he calmed down and took a few pitches to reset.
On his next swing, Bufford hooked a high-arcing shot down the left-field line, and the ball stayed fair and carried over the fence. Then, the right-handed hitter smacked another one over the left-field wall for back-to-back home runs.
Bufford's next two swings resulted in outs, meaning that he would finish with two long balls if he did not go yard on his following hack. Two homers is a respectable total in the Pioneer League's knockout round – Tremayne Cobb Jr. needed just one to win his round on Opening Day.
But with Oakland going first, Bufford wanted more to set the tone and put pressure on the Glacier Range Riders. The following four pitches went like this:
Take. Take. Take. Bam.
Bufford blasted a moonshot that scraped the videoboard in left center for his third dinger of the game-deciding home run derby.
Bang.
Again, Bufford pulled one to left and totaled his fourth tater, surely enough for the victory.
Wham.
One more, for good measure. Incredibly, Bufford homered on three consecutive throws from Harris and finished with five bombs in the knockout round, the most in Oakland history.
Five home runs was too high a bar for the Range Riders. Their participant, Kingston Liniak didn't hit a single one.
The Ballers' knockout round triumph came following a thrilling 3-3 tie Wednesday night at Glacier Bank Park. Oakland needed to come back to force the knockout round in the first place.
Dylan Matsuoka gave the Ballers a quality start, going six innings and striking out seven while allowing three runs. However, Oakland trailed 3-1 after six frames because of Glacier's Ty Bothwell, who fanned nine over his six sparkling innings of work.
Oakland managed just two hits against Bothwell, but strung together three straight singles in the seventh. Lou Helmig came up clutch with a pinch-hit, RBI knock through the right side to bring the Ballers within one.
Davis Drewek singled with one out in the eighth to get the tying run aboard. With two outs in the frame, Daniel Harris IV torched a triple to right field, plating Drewek and knotting the game at three.
Harris' huge hit set the door for Connor Sullivan, who followed Alec Rodriguez's scoreless seventh with two scoreless innings of his own. Sullivan collected the final six outs to send the Ballers to the knockout round, which Bufford won handily.
Oakland has won three in a row for the first time this season, and goes for a fourth straight victory at 6:05 p.m. PDT on Thursday. As always, you can listen to the action on 860 AM The Answer and on the Oakland Ballers YouTube channel.
