Oakland Wins Series in Knock Out Thriller
Moore hits Lone Homer of Three-Round Knock Out
| Final (10) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 14 | 0 |
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0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 4 |
By Tyler Petersen
Long Beach, Calif. –
In what proved to be the longest game in franchise history, the Ballers won a back-and-forth dramatic slugfest over the Coast, tying 10-10 after nine innings and winning 1-0 in the third knockout round.
The game started out unusually – with former MLB righty and Coast pitching coach Jerome Williams making an appearance on the mound as a marketing player. It's been 10 years since he made his final big league appearance but the 44-year-old Williams threw a hitless first inning. This was the second time Williams pitched as a marketing player, having done the same for the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers last season.
Aidan Risse was able to match a scoreless first with Williams but couldn't get out of the second. He allowed six runs to the Long Beach hitters and was chased after only 1.2 innings.
Garrett Van Deventer took over pitching duties after the opener and held Oakland to just one unearned run through the second, third, and fourth.
In the fifth, the Ballers received another gift run courtesy of the Long Beach defense to make it a 6-2 game and the bats then went to work. With two outs in the inning Tristan Moore singled to center field to bring the Ballers another run closer. That was followed up by a two-strike double by Cam Bufford to make it a 6-4 game. Then on a full count, Conner Smith drove in two with a hit to left-center and a five-run inning had tied the game.
Immediately Brock Mayer ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth. He loaded the bases on a hit-by-pitch and two walks to the first three batters he faced. He was able to limit the damage somewhat though, inducing three groundouts that scored two runs, and the Ballers trailed once again, 8-6.
It was Oakland's turn to have the bases loaded in the sixth, albeit with two outs. Tristan Moore had another shot to come up clutch, and he did, with a two-run single to tie the game at 8-8. Then Bufford was able to come up with another two-out hit to drive in Moore, giving Oakland a 9-8 lead.
But the game see-sawed again in the bottom of the sixth – Jacob Jablonski hit a two-run home run off Ahmad Harajli to reestablish the Coast lead.
Unlike what we have seen in games in 2026, Oakland had yet another answer. Putting two men in scoring position in the eighth, Cam Bufford scored one of them with a sac fly, knotting things up at 10 each.
In a tied game with already five lead changes and five bullpen arms used, Aaron Miles turned to Langston Burkett, one night after a five-out save.
He was once again able to dispatch Long Beach fairly quickly, and did not allow a single hit the rest of the game.
We went to a Knock Out Round, with both teams missing their main men for the event. Tremayne Cobb and Matthew Bardowell each are on the IL so Oakland turned to a former KO Round winner in Cam Bufford, who failed to hit a homer at all. Long Beach countered with Easton Jones (a surprising choice) who also had no home runs.
Round two saw the Pioneer League's home run leader hit a grand total of zero out of the park and luckily for Oakland, Long Beach's Cooper Vest matched that mark.
For only the second time in Ballers history, we went to a third round. Tristan Moore, in only his third professional game, was then chosen to win the game for Oakland, and he did what no one else could so far that night, and hit one home run.
Jacob Jablonski needed one to tie and two to win, and he came close with two at the base of the outfield wall, but did not hit one out either.
It is the first series victory for the Ballers over the Coast this year, and only their second victory at Blair Field, coming in back-to-back nights.
The game lasted four hours exactly, the first in franchise history to hit that mark. Five previous times a game hit 3:50 or later and the previous high was a 3:59 game on May 28, 2024 in a Ballers win at Rocky Mountain.
Oakland starts yet another short three-game weekend homestand tomorrow with the Boise Hawks in town. If they truly want to make a run in this second half then they will have to be pretty flawless for the rest of these 39 games. Friday's game can be watched on the HomeTeam Network and the Ballers YouTube channel. Pregame coverage starts at 6:15 pm.
