Oakland Holds on for Nail-biting Victory
Ballers are First to 30 Wins in PBL
By Tyler Petersen
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –
Oakland made it a franchise-best nine wins in a row after a back-and-forth 4-3 win that saw the potential tying run only ninety feet away at third when the game ended.
It was another pitchers' duel, the second straight night we saw one in Colorado Springs. Malik Binns and Noah Millikan went toe-to-toe with one another, trading scoreless innings early.
The first run of the game came from the first hit of the game, a solo home run by the Vibes center fielder Carter Booth in the third inning.
The Ballers were able to immediately answer back. Christian Almanza singled to open the fourth, and Daniel Harris IV doubled right after, putting runners on second and third with no outs. A wild pitch brought home one run to tie the game and then in his first game back from the IL, Michael O'Hara singled home Harris to make it a 2-1 game.
Rocky Mountain's response was swift, with a two-run double in the next half inning by Dane Tofteland to re-take the lead at 3-2. But it would be the last time the Vibes scored off of Millikan. Noah put together another quality start, completing six innings with five strikeouts and no walks.
In the seventh, with the score stuck at 3-2, the Ballers went to work getting Millikan off the hook for the loss. O'Hara singled against the new reliever for Rocky Mountain and the very next batter, Tyler Lozano, tripled him home. Coincidentally, Lozano's only other career triple came at Colorado Springs last year, his first professional hit.
After a scoreless bottom of the seventh from Conner Richardson, Christian Almanza led off the eighth against a lefty. On a 3-2 pitch, he cracked a deep fly ball to center that went 425 feet over the wall to give Oakland its first lead of the night.
Lambert went 1-2-3 in the eighth and the Ballers held a 4-3 lead going into the bottom of the ninth.
On his birthday and America's, Connor Sullivan entered the game. The inning would turn out to be quite dramatic. Tofteland led off the inning with a double, he was pinch run for and then the runner advanced to third on a ground out to second.
The tying run was at third with one out. A pinch hitter came up and on four fastballs Sullivan blew him away for a strikeout.
One more out away.
Carter Booth, who already homered once in the game, was the potential winning run at the plate. Sullivan got Booth to a 1-2 count then painted a fastball on the outside for strike three. Booth challenged but the call was confirmed – not by much. Only the slightest sliver of the baseball caught the edge of the zone, so technically it is a strike by the rules.
Sullivan secured his league-leading ninth save of the year.
Oakland will attempt to go for 10 wins in a row tomorrow. Make sure you tune in to the action tomorrow for game four of the series at 5:30 PM PDT on 860 AM The Answer and the Ballers YouTube channel.
