Ballers comeback falls short in series finale loss to Hawks
Ybarra homers twice but tying run left stranded on second
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 0 |
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0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 0 |
By Gareth Kwok
OAKLAND, CA – The Oakland Ballers' (4-8, 26-34) ninth inning comeback fell short on Sunday afternoon as they dropped the series finale to the Boise Hawks (7-5, 30-30) by a final score of 7-6 at Raimondi Park.
Oakland led by as many three through the first four innings. Jeter Ybarra hit the first of his two homers on the day with a solo shot to left center in the second inning to tie the score at one before Jake Allgeyer put Oakland ahead with an RBI single in the third.
In the fourth, Brendan O'Sullivan knocked in a run with an RBI bloop single to right and Noah Blythe scored on a wild pitch to give the Ballers their biggest lead of the game at 4-1.
Starting right-hander Hunter Day struck out a season-high five batters in 5.1 innings pitched. He allowed just two runs through five innings but after striking out Ryan Recio for the first out of the sixth, he gave up back-to-back homers to Avery Neaves and former Baller Michael O'Hara, which evened the score at four.
Former San Jose State right-hander David Thomas (L, 0-1) entered the game for his professional debut. The Alameda native struck out four in 2.1 innings pitched but with two outs and a runner on first in the eighth, Jeremy Begora launched a go-ahead two-run homer to retake the lead for the Hawks.
Esai Santos answered in the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer into the right-field bullpen, his 10th of the season, to pull Oakland within a run.
Former Kansas City Royals farmhand Julio Rosario made his Ballers debut and fanned two in 1.1 innings. However, a two-out walk to Ethan Underwood and an RBI double from Recio in the ninth pushed Boise's lead back to two.
Hawks closer Zan Rose (S, 9) collected the first two outs of the ninth but Ybarra took him deep for his second homer of the game to make it a one-run game. The Ballers first baseman now has a league-leading 25 homers this season and has six multi-homer games.
Tristan Moore doubled to keep the game alive but Rose struck out Nick Leehey swinging to secure the series finale win for Boise.
Cameron Witte (W, 1-0) earned the win for Boise after escaping a first-and-second, one-out jam in the seventh with a pair of strikeouts.
The Ballers now begin a three-game road series against the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds on Tuesday, July 28. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m from Bryant Field in Marysville. Fans can tune in beginning at 6:50 p.m on the Oakland Ballers YouTube Channel and HomeTeam Network.
