Oakland Holds on for Third Consecutive Win
Ballers Improve to 68-20 on the Year
By Nevada Cullen
MARYSVILLE, Calif. -- They had to sweat it out, but the Ballers overcame the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers, 7-6, Friday night. Yuba-Sutter mounted a comeback after trailing 7-3 in the sixth, but Oakland held off the late rally.
The game was a bit of a homer-fest as well, as the two teams combined for six big flies. Of the 13 runs scored, 9 came via the long ball.
Garret Pike landed the first punch for the High Wheelers. He led off the bottom of the first with a solo shot to right field.
The Ballers took the lead in the third. Jake Allgeyer rocked a go-ahead, two-run blast over the scoreboard in right, nearly splashing his second Oakland homer into Ellis Lake.
With a couple of baserunners aboard in the fourth, newly acquired TJ McKenzie smacked a ball towards the right-center field gap. It clanged off of the metal part of the wall for a three-run home run, as McKenzie increased Oakland's advantage to 5-1 with his first dinger with the team.
Yuba-Sutter answered in the bottom of the fourth with a pair of solo jacks. Gio Brusa and Evan Berkey each homered in the frame to bring the High Wheelers within two.
Oakland pushed its lead back out to four in the sixth. But, a Bobby Lada solo bomb in the seventh, his sixth round tripper in five games, cut the Yuba-Sutter deficit to two once again.
James Colyer pitched a perfect eighth for the Ballers, striking out Berkey with a 93 mph fastball to end the inning. This proved important, as the High Wheelers rallied in the ninth.
Connor Sullivan came on for the ninth and punched out Otto Jones to begin the frame. But, Garrett Pike doubled down the line with one out, and River Orsak blooped an RBI single into right to plate Pike.
With Lada at the dish and Orsak at third with one out due to some heads-up baserunning, Lada bounced a slow grounder to third. Jake Allgeyer threw home to trap Orsak, who tried his best to escape the pickle and score, but Tremayne Cobb Jr. eventually chased Orsak down and dove towards home to tag him out.
Lada advanced to third on the play, and the High Wheelers sent Randy Flores to the plate as a pinch hitter. Sully fanned Flores to end it and claim his 17th save, tying the Pioneer League single-season saves record in the league's unaffiliated era.
First pitch for game five against the High Wheelers is slated for 7:05 p.m. PDT Saturday. As always, you can listen to the action on 860 AM The Answer and on the Oakland Ballers YouTube channel.
