Millikan Dominates in Game 1 Win
Oakland One Win Away from Championship Berth
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
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1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 4 | 6 | 2 |
By Nevada Cullen
OAKLAND, Calif. -- When Noah Millikan fanned Kenny Oyama to finish his seventh and final inning of work, he let out a ferocious roar and stomped off of the mound. Millikan's dinosaur-like reaction was only fitting as the Ballers took down the Ogden Raptors, 4-2, in Thursday's postseason opener.
Millikan got the nod as Oakland's game one starting pitcher, and fought through some butterflies in the top of the first. Ogden loaded the bases with two outs through two walks and a single, but Millikan forced Dylan Wilkinson to ground out to short to leave them loaded.
To say the Berkeley native settled in after a rocky first would be an understatement. Millikan fired seven strong innings, allowed just four hits and one earned run and struck out seven to earn his first professional postseason win.
"Sometimes you just have it, sometimes you gotta find it," Millikan said. "Definitely had to find it a little bit tonight. But I was able to just reel it back, dial it in and make some pitches."
Tremayne Cobb Jr. led off the contest for the Ballers with a base hit through the left side. He stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a flyout by Christian Almanza to left field, as Connor Bagnieski sailed the throw over his catcher to give Oakland the initial edge.
Ogden answered immediately in the visitors' second inning. Christian Hall, a late season addition from the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, blasted an opposite-field, solo home run to left to even the score at one apiece.
Oakland snatched the lead right back in the bottom of the frame. Dillon Tatum doubled down the left-field line to open the inning, and Esai Santos sprayed another ball down that left-field line for a go-ahead single, plating Tatum.
In the fourth, the Ballers cashed in on a couple of free passes to pad their advantage. Ogden lefty Chase Chatman caught too much of the zone with a high fastball on a 3-2 pitch to Cobb, who smashed a two-run double off of the wall in left to extend Oakland's lead to 4-1.
The Raptors came within two in the sixth when Damian Stone delivered an RBI knock. But, that's all the offense they could muster.
Conner Richardson entered in the eighth following Millikan's seven brilliant innings. The Raptors loaded the bags with two outs, but Chewy induced a groundout to keep them at bay.
Finally, Connor Sullivan got the ball in the ninth, and came out firing with back-to-back swinging strikeouts on fastballs at 91 and 92 mph. Oyama flied out to Santos in right field to end it, giving Sully his first postseason save.
With the 4-2 win, the Ballers need one more victory to earn a spot in the Pioneer League Championship Series. First pitch for game two of the three-game playoff series against the Raptors is slated for 6:35 p.m. PDT Friday. As always, you can listen to the action on 860 AM The Answer and on the Oakland Ballers YouTube channel.
