Ballers five-run lead erased in walk-off loss to Coast
Ybarra hits league-leading 17th homer in defeat
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 1 |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 1 |
By Gareth Kwok
LONG BEACH, CA – The Oakland Ballers dropped the first game of their three-game road series to the Long Beach Coast by a final of 8-7 at Blair Field on a walk-off sacrifice fly from Johnny Pappas.
Oakland (16-21) led by as many as five through the first three and a half innings. Jeter Ybarra doubled in Noah Blythe to score the game's first run four batters in and Oakland scored four in the third to take a 5-0 lead. Paul Winland doubled home Ybarra, Brendan O'Sullivan doubled home a pair and Conner Smith singled in O'Sullivan to give the Ballers their biggest lead of the game.
However, Long Beach (29-8) responded with three runs in the fourth, a run in the fifth and three in the sixth after starting right-hander Aidan Risse threw three scoreless innings to begin the night. Matthew Bardowell hit a two-run homer and Pappas hit his first sacrifice fly in the fourth while Cuba Bess drove in a run with a single in the fifth to cut the Oakland lead down to one.
After a pair of walks in the sixth, Emilio Corona evened the score at five with a game-tying RBI single to center. A two-out fielding error by Nick Leehey set up a go-ahead two-run double from Bardowell to give Long Beach its first lead of the game 7-5.
Smith responded in the seventh with a solo blast to left, his first professional homer, to cut the Coast lead in half. The rookie went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBI in just his second professional start.
With the Ballers down to their final out in the top of the ninth, Ybarra sent a 2-0 fastball from Zach Voelker (W, 2-2) over the left field wall for a game-tying solo homer, his league-leading 17th of the season. The first baseman finished the game with three hits and two RBI and fell a triple shy of the cycle.
Matthew Maloney (L, 1-1) entered for a third consecutive game hoping to force a knockout round tiebreaker but walked the first two batters. After a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners into scoring position, Pappas hit a 2-1 fastball deep enough to left to score Jaylen Edmonds from third and win the game for the Coast.
The Ballers continue their three-game road series against the Long Beach Coast on Wednesday, July 1. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m from Blair Field. Fans can tune in beginning at 6:20 p.m on the Oakland Ballers YouTube Channel and HomeTeam Network.
