Ballers make furious comeback to win Friday night thriller
McKenzie’s walk-off sacrifice fly completes seven-run comeback
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 10 | 1 |
|
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0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 9 | 1 |
By Gareth Kwok
OAKLAND, CA – The Oakland Ballers furiously rallied from a seven-run deficit to defeat the Long Beach Coast on Friday night by a final of 12-11 from Raimondi Park.
Long Beach (2-2) led Oakland 10-3 through four innings after jumping on Ballers starting pitcher Charlie Hurley from the start. The Coast hit three homers off Hurley, including a three-run shot from Cuba Bess in the fourth, to give Long Beach its largest lead of the game.
The 24-year-old right-hander lasted 3.1 innings, allowed 10 runs (nine earned) on nine hits with one walk and one strikeout in his Ballers debut.
However, the Oakland (2-2) bats picked him up significantly. Jaden Sheppard collected his first professional RBI with a single in the fifth before Jeter Ybarra hammered a two-out, opposite field grand slam in the sixth to bring the Ballers within just two.
Despite a strained bullpen to start the season, Oakland turned to relievers Valek Cisneros, Matthew Maloney and Langston Burkett who dug deep and combined for 4.2 scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts to keep the game close for the Ballers.
In the seventh, Damian Stone caught a high fastball from left-hander Jake Dixon and sent it over the left-field wall to make it 10-9 Long Beach.
A solo homer from Paul Winland Jr. off Braydon Nelson (W, 1-0) in the ninth extended the Coast lead back to two but the Ballers ninth inning rally started emphatically with Ybarra. He led off the frame with his second homer of the game off Zach Voelker (L, 0-1) to cut the deficit back down to one.
After two walks from Voelker and a walk from sidearmer Steven Ordorica to load the bases, pinch hitter Noah Blythe drew a seven-pitch walk to score the tying run.
The bases remained loaded with one out for T.J. McKenzie, who sent a line drive to center deep enough to score Jaden Collura from third for a game-winning sacrifice fly completing a seven-run series-opening comeback win.
The Ballers continue their six-game series against the Long Beach Coast on Saturday afternoon. LHP CJ Blowers will take the mound for Oakland against RHP Cole Cressend for Long Beach. First pitch is scheduled for 4:35 p.m. Fans can tune in beginning at 4:15 pm on HomeTeam Network and on the Oakland Ballers YouTube Channel.
