Ballers Come Back in Ninth to Take Series
Oakland Ties Single-Season Wins Record at 69
By Nevada Cullen
MARYSVILLE, Calif. -- Trailing 4-3 in the top of the ninth Sunday night, the Ballers' run of 11 straight series wins looked like it was coming to an end. After all, Ty Buckner, closer for the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers, stood in their way with one earned run allowed through his first eight appearances of the season.
But on the first pitch of the inning, Lou Helmig smacked a single into right center to give Oakland some late life. Darryl Buggs II pinch ran for Helmig and promptly stole second, to put the tying run in scoring position with no one out.
Next, Buckner and Michael O'Hara straight up battled. On the ninth pitch of the at bat, O'Hara stroked a single into right-center field, scoring Buggs to even the contest at four apiece, and O'Hara advanced to second on the throw home.
Then, with one out in the frame, Esai Santos sizzled a ball past the Yuba-Sutter second baseman at 106 mph and into right center to plate O'Hara, giving the Ballers a 5-4 edge. With his walk-off single last week against the Boise Hawks, Santos has delivered game-winning hits on back-to-back Sundays.
Connor Sullivan came on for the bottom of the ninth and faced the top of the Yuba-Sutter order. He dominated the High Wheelers with a perfect inning, punching out Garret Pike on three consecutive changeups and Bobby Lada on a wipeout slider.
Sully claimed his 18th save, the most in the unaffiliated era of the Pioneer League. The Martinez native and former Cal Golden Bear broke a tie with Sam Hellinger, who recorded 17 for the Missoula PaddleHeads in 2022.
The High Wheelers took the initial lead with an Evan Berkey two-run, opposite-field blast in a three-run fourth. Helmig provided an instant response for the Ballers, sending a two-run moonshot to right field in the top of the fifth.
Later, O'Hara led off the seventh with a cloudscraping, 382-foot big fly to right. The Danville native's first Oakland homer was the first of two game-tying hits, knotting the score at three.
Meanwhile, Adam Bogosian put on a show in his best outing of the year. Bogosian routinely touched 94 mph with his fastball, struck out a season-high seven hitters and held the High Wheelers to one hit in three scoreless innings.
Yuba-Sutter scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning on a balk. However, Oakland found a way to win, as the team so often does.
With the Ballers' 5-4 victory, they tied the PBL modern era record with their 69th win of the season. Amazingly, Oakland has come out on top in its last 12 series, and looks to make it 13 straight to end the regular season with a series victory over the Great Falls Voyagers at Raimondi Park next week.
Come to Raimondi to witness history Tuesday, with first pitch for the opener against the Voyagers set for 6:35 p.m. PDT. As always, you can listen to the action on 860 AM The Answer and on the Oakland Ballers YouTube channel.
