Ballers Force Game Four in Championship Series
Oakland Still Alive in the Championship Series
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 1 |
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0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | X | 10 | 13 | 2 |
By Nevada Cullen
OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Ballers are still breathing. Oakland handled the Idaho Falls Chukars, 10-2, in game four of the 2025 Pioneer League Championship Series in front of a sellout crowd of 4,100 at Raimondi Park on Friday night.
Down 2-0 in the series, the Ballers needed a victory to keep their season alive, and they got one. Oakland erupted for four runs in the third inning and three more in the fourth to jump out to a 7-0 lead, which ended up being more than enough cushion.
In his first start of the series, Tyler Lozano led off the third with a double. He advanced to third on a wild pitch, and Tremayne Cobb Jr. shot a single through the right side to bring home Lozano and put Oakland on the board first.
On a hit and run, Esai Santos clubbed a double off of the right-field wall, which plated Cobb who ran on the pitch. Then, Christian Almanza went the other way for a two-run shot to left center, his third long ball in the last two games.
Cobb came through again in the fourth, dumping an RBI knock into right field, his second run-scoring hit in as many frames. With two on and two outs, Santos lifted a ball to deep center, and it brought in a pair because Spencer Rich leapt too early and dropped the baseball.
The fifth inning looked like it would turn into disaster when Almanza airmailed a throw to first covering a sacrifice bunt. But on a would-be two-run single to right by Anthony Mata, Santos hosed Kirkland Banks at the plate, and the Chukars only scored two in the frame.
Luke Short toed the slab for the Ballers as their game three starter, and the San Jose native delivered. Short fired five fine innings, allowed only one earned run and struck out six.
James Colyer relieved Short and tossed the sixth and seventh frames. Colyer yielded just two hits and punched out three in a pair of scoreless innings.
Lozano gave the Ballers some insurance with a two-run blast to left on a hanging breaking ball in the seventh. As the only returning position player from 2024, Lozano became the first Baller with a home run in multiple postseasons (he smacked one in the third game of last year's first-round matchup with the Yolo High Wheelers).
Connor Richardson inherited and snuck out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth. Caleb Franzen recorded the final three outs to shut the door on a 10-2 Oakland win.
The Ballers must win again to force a decisive fifth game of the championship series against the Chukars, with first pitch for game four set for 6:35 p.m. PDT Saturday. As always, you can listen to the action on 860 AM The Answer and on the Oakland Ballers YouTube channel.
