Santos' Slam Powers Ballers to Third Straight over HighWheelers
Esai Smashed Go-Ahead Homer in Ninth
By Nevada Cullen
MARYSVILLE, Calif. -- Esai Santos curled a long drive around the right field foul pole on Thursday, only to have the call on the field flipped from home run to foul ball. He took that personally.
With Friday's contest knotted at three, Santos led off the sixth with a solo bomb to right field. But, the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers immediately returned to level terms in the bottom of the inning, bringing in the tying run on an error.
Then with the game tied at four in the ninth, the Ballers loaded the bases with one out. Yuba-Sutter reliever Mason Bryant notched a strikeout to come one out closer to escaping the jam, but had to get through Santos.
On the first pitch he saw, Santos ambushed a hard fastball and stroked it deep to left-center field for a go-ahead grand slam. It took Santos' first professional two-homer performance, but the Ballers led the High Wheelers, 8-4.
Conner Richardson tossed two scoreless frames to improve to 4-0 this season. Connor Sullivan pitched a perfect ninth to lock down Oakland's third consecutive win.
The back-and-forth contest between the Ballers and the High Wheelers featured six solo homers. Bobby Lada and Gio Brusa each hammered solo shots to left in the opening two frames for Yuba-Sutter.
Oakland grabbed its first lead in the fifth with back-to-back jacks. Lou Helmig homered for a second straight game, and Dillon Tatum followed him with his second long ball of the series.
Landon Wallace walloped a game-tying big fly to left center for the High Wheelers in the bottom of the fifth. And Santos quickly untied the score with his leadoff long ball in the sixth.
Dylan Delvecchio received his second pro start for the Ballers. He allowed just three runs over five innings of work.
Not only did Santos record his first two-homer game, but also he tied his career high with five RBI. The Berkeley native's game-winning grand slam will not soon be forgotten by him, his team and Oakland fans.
First pitch for game five against the High Wheelers is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. PDT Saturday. As always, you can listen to the action on 860 AM The Answer and on the Oakland Ballers YouTube channel.
