Ballers Blitz Raptors with 15-Run Second Inning
Oakland Wins Two Straight to Begin Series
By Nevada Cullen
OGDEN, Utah -- Rarely is a baseball game decided by the second inning. It's technically impossible, but the Ballers made it possible.
Trailing 3-0 entering the second in Saturday's contest with the Ogden Raptors, the Ballers plated an unprecedented 15 runs in one inning, the most in Oakland history and highest total in a Pioneer League game in 2025. The Ballers ended up winning by nearly a dozen, 22-11, to take the series against the Raptors.
Oakland sent 18 men to the dish in their 15-run second. Twelve Ballers came to the plate before Ogden recorded an out.
Dillon Tatum delivered the first big hit of the inning. He doubled down the left-field line and drove in two to even the score at three.
Tatum finished the night with season bests in hits (5) and RBI (4), reaching in all six plate appearances. With his 5-5 performance, Tatum equaled the franchise record for hits in a game, set by Austin Davis and matched by Tremayne Cobb Jr. on Opening Day against Ogden.
Cobb put the Ballers ahead with a run-scoring single following Tatum's double. Then, Esai Santos smacked a three-run, opposite-field homer to left to extend Oakland's lead to 7-3.
Santos' swing resulted in his first professional long ball. Eventually, he came back up in the second and punched a two-run double to left center, pushing his total to a career-best five RBI on the evening.
The Ballers collected 12 hits in their 15-run second. As much as I'd love to mention all of them, let's move on to the third inning for time's sake.
Only four Ballers came to bat in the third. But of those four, Daniel Harris IV crushed his second homer in as many days, a solo jack to right. Harris contributed three hits and touched home five times before game's end.
Cobb went 3-6 with four RBI, adding a two-run single in the seventh. Lou Helmig also picked up three hits, including a double, and plated two. The lone Baller without a hit was Michael O'Hara, and even he drove in a season-high three runs.
Pat Monteith pitched in with a pinch-hit, Little League home run in the eighth. He hit a moonshot that landed on top of the left-field wall, hustled out a triple and scored on a wild throw.
Luke Short claimed the win, going five for Oakland on the hill. Adam Bogosian pitched the final four frames, the most he's thrown so far as a pro, to get his first-ever save.
In the postgame Home Run Derby, Cam Bufford beat Christopher Sargent Jr., 6-4, in the first round. Cobb held off Kyler Stancato's furious rally, 7-6, in round two. So, the Ballers won their first ever Pioneer League Home Run Derby.
The Ballers go for the sweep of the Raptors on Sunday, with first pitch set for 12 p.m. PDT. As always, you can listen to the action on 860 AM The Answer and on the Oakland Ballers YouTube channel.
