Ballers bombard Paddleheads in series clinching win on Sunday
Oakland scores season-high 23 runs on 29 hits in victory
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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4 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 29 | 2 |
|
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0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 14 | 2 |
By Gareth Kwok
MISSOULA, MT – Behind a season-high 23 runs on 29 hits, the Oakland Ballers crushed the Missoula Paddleheads 23-11 on Sunday afternoon at Allegiance Field at Ogren Park to win the series four games to two.
Oakland's 23 runs are the second-most scored in a single-game in Ballers franchise history.
Seven Ballers hitters collected at least three hits (Tremayne Cobb, Esai Santos, Jake Allgeyer, Jaden Collura, Jeter Ybarra, Cam Bufford and Nick Leehey) and five collected at least four hits (Cobb, Santos, Allgeyer, Ybarra, Bufford) on the day.
Oakland (11-13) used four big innings to overwhelm Missoula (13-11) en route to its best offensive scoring output of the season. The Ballers jumped out to a four-run lead in the first with two runs driven in by Bufford on a single to left off Paddleheads starter Luke Wechsler (L, 1-1), one of his game-high five hits on the day.
The Ballers then scored seven runs in the fourth inning and six runs in the fifth, leading 18-2, their biggest lead of the game. Allgeyer hit a three-run homer and Ybarra hit a two-run shot in the fourth. After Allgeyer's two-run double in the fifth, Ybarra teed off again with his second homer of the game. Allgeyer drove in a game-high six runs on four hits and Ybarra drove in five runs on four hits.
Oakland added four more runs in the seventh on an RBI single from Allgeyer, an RBI double from Collura, an RBI groundout from Ybarra and an RBI single from Bufford.
The Ballers used five pitchers in a bullpen game to complete the victory. Starting left-hander Campbell Spradling pitched the first two innings and struck out three. Matt Lozovoy (W, 1-0) earned his first win of the year with 2.2 innings and two strikeouts. Derek Murphy threw 1.1 innings, Matthew Maloney tossed 1.2 innings and Liam Rocha dealt 1.1 scoreless innings to secure the series win for Oakland.
The Ballers return home and begin a three-game series on Tuesday night against the Long Beach Coast. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m from Raimondi Park. Fans can tune in beginning at 6:15 p.m on the Oakland Ballers YouTube Channel and HomeTeam Network.
