Almanza Hammers Hat Trick of Homers in Slugfest
Ballers Open Series with Win
By Nevada Cullen
OAKLAND, Calif. -- In Tuesday's 12-8 win against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, Christian Almanza did something that only two Ballers had done before. He launched three long balls in one game.
Almanza torched a trio of two-run taters in the opening four innings of the ballgame. And he did so in support of his former Saint Mary's College teammate Dylan Delvecchio, who made his professional debut on the mound and struck out six.
Prior to the eight actual round trippers in the contest, Davis Drewek hit a Little-League home run in the first inning. He smacked a line drive to center that was misplayed for an RBI triple, and the throw from the cutoff man trickled into the Colorado Springs dugout to allow Drewek to score, too.
Later in the frame, Almanza hammered the first of three homers. He annihilated a ball at 108 mph off the bat and 398 feet to right field to hand the Ballers an early 4-0 advantage.
The Sky Sox responded with three runs in the second inning, but the Ballers countered with five in the bottom of the second. Drewek swatted a first-pitch, opposite-field, three-run dinger to left for his first real home run of the evening.
Two batters later, Almanza bruised the batter's eye in center field with his second two-run shot in as many innings. The 410-foot bomb extended Oakland's lead to 9-3.
In the fourth, the Ballers bashed a couple more big flies. First, Esai Santos slammed a solo shot to left field off of his former college teammate, Austyn Coleman.
Following a Daniel Harris IV single, Almanza came up with two outs and two long balls on his ledger. The Stockton native scorched a line drive to right center for yet another monster mash, upping his season total to 19 and matching his career high with 6 RBI.
Colorado Springs chipped away with three homers of its own, with one from Brett Roberts and two from Zane Denton for his first pro two-homer game. But, the Ballers held on to win by four.
First pitch for game two against the Sky Sox is set for 6:35 p.m. PDT Wednesday. As always, you can listen to the action on 860 AM The Answer and on the Oakland Ballers YouTube channel.
