Ballers Fall to High Wheelers in Regular Season Finale
The Ballers finished their first ever regular season with a 5-1 loss to the Yolo High Wheelers on Sunday.
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By Nevada Cullen
DAVIS, Calif. -- The Ballers finished their first ever regular season with a 5-1 loss to the Yolo High Wheelers on Sunday. They ended their 96-game slate with a 58-38 record, second best in the Pioneer League, and begin their playoff push on Tuesday.
Taylor Lomack clobbered a first-inning homer for the High Wheelers. His solo shot cleared the left-field wall by a large margin, traveling more than 400 feet from home plate.
Yolo put up a four-spot in the third to take a 5-0 lead. Brayline Marine, Jose Gonzalez and David Glancy each pitched in with an RBI single in the inning.
Jonah Jenkins got the start for the High Wheelers and carried a perfect game into the fifth. His bid for a perfecto ended when he hit Tripp Clark to start the fifth, and Tyler Lozano stroked an RBI single into left to break up the no-hitter and shutout.
Neither team scored after the fifth. Andrew LaCour, Connor Langrell and Ty Buckner each recorded scoreless relief appearances for the High Wheelers. Braydon Nelson, Kyle Pijaszek and Reed Butz did the same for the Ballers.
With their 5-1 win, the High Wheelers took the second-half series against the Ballers, going 10-8 against them in the latter portion of the season. Still, Oakland came out on top in the season series with a 19-17 record versus Yolo in the regular season.
And with Saturday's victory over the High Wheelers, the Ballers became second half champions, the team with the best record in the second half of the PBL season. So, Oakland is the No. 2 seed in the PBL playoffs and has home-field advantage for their first round matchup with Yolo.
The Ballers and High Wheelers begin the three-game set on Tuesday at Dobbins Stadium in Davis, with first pitch slated for 3:00 p.m. PDT. As always, you can listen on 860 AM The Answer.
Then, the Ballers welcome the High Wheelers to Raimondi Park for the second game of the series on Thursday at 6:35 p.m. PDT. Reserved seats are nearly sold out, so get your tickets here before they're gone.
If each team wins one game to begin the series, there will be a winner-take-all game three on Friday at 6:35 p.m. PDT at Raimondi Park. You can reserve your ticket for the "if necessary" game here, starting at 11:00 a.m. PDT on Monday.
The winner of the Oakland-Yolo series will face the victor of the first round matchup between the No. 1 seed Missoula PaddleHeads and No. 4 seed Glacier Range Riders in the PBL Championship. It will take place from Sept. 15 to Sept. 20, and game times and locations are to be determined.
