Oakland Ballers in Playoff Position Entering Huge Series

Jason Burke, Madison Montez | Aug 19, 2024

Oakland Ballers Daunte Stewart Rounds the Bases /

The Oakland Ballers hosted the Boise Hawks this week for their second to last homestand. Coming into this week, the Ballers had never faced the Hawks with this being the only series played between the two teams this season. 

Boise came out strong winning the first three games until Oakland shut them out 4-0 with Justin Kleinsorge recording his fourth win of the season. Boise’s biggest contributor this series and this whole season has been Micah Yonamine. Yonamine leads Boise in hits and found his groove against the Ballers pitchers this series. Similarly, Ballers’s Daunte Stuart was been the highest contributor for Oakland this series and has found gotten into a groove of his own in Oakland. 

In this series, Stuart went 7-for-22 with a .318 batting average and a pair of home runs. The Ballers came into Sunday’s game looking to tie the series after winning in back-to-back shutouts. This momentum didn’t come out of nowhere though. The coaching staff tries to motivate the Ballers by focusing on each game and metaphorically splitting the series in half. Stuart said this weekend, “Coach looks at it as two different series so he said they won the first series so it was just about winning the second series on Sunday."

Stuart attended two colleges for his collegiate career. In his freshman-senior season, he attended Northwestern State in Natchitoches, Louisiana. During his time there and won 14 awards, but the ones that stuck out were the academic honors. Out of the 14 awards, 3 were honor roll awards. At Northwestern State, the honor roll requirement is to have a GPA between 3.0-4.9.

Being a student-athlete is hard enough and being able to get multiple honor roll awards is an accomplishment in itself. “I think the main thing is just time management, just knowing that even though you don’t feel like doing certain stuff at a certain time, it’ll help you out in the long run.” He then went on to play one season at the University of Memphis recording a .325 batting average with 69 hits through 212 ABs.  

Stuart made his Ballers debut on July 23rd against the Yolo High Wheelers. In that game he got one at-bat and got one hit, scoring a run in the 6-3 loss. After playing college baseball in Louisiana and Tennessee, playing professional baseball in Oakland is different. “The biggest shock is that the fans have been amazing. The environment is great and the fans make it feel like every game matters.” Stuart wants Ballers fans to know that “he’s a cool guy, don’t be afraid to go up to him.” Still being fairly new to Oakland, meeting fans and new people is important. 

Although Stuart has only been in Oakland for less than a month, he easily fits in. One of the biggest reasons for this was with the help of veteran Dondrei Hubbard. “He’s an older guy who really mentors the younger players on the mental side of the game. He says it’s like playing chess."

Hubbard has always been one that looks to help the younger and new guys. “I just want to be like a big brother to them. Help them get to the next  level where I've been before.” Another big help has been the connection and chemistry with infielder Josh Leslie. “Everyday I pull up to the ballpark and like messing with Leslie, he’s a funny guy.” Having good chemistry is one of the most important things a team can have and can be the key to winning games. 

Daunte Stuart and the Ballers will travel to Northern Colorado to take on the Owlz in an odd five-game series starting Tuesday where they look to keep the good vibes and win streak going. After the 3-3 week, the Ballers remain in third place in the Independent League's second half. On the bright side, Missoula went 1-5 this past week, putting the B's and the Paddleheads in a tie for second and third.

The upcoming series against the Owlz will have huge ramifications, too. If the Ballers are unable to secure one of the top two spots in the second half with Boise on top and Missoula finishing second, then the team with the best overall record would gain entry to the postseason as a wild-card since Missoula has a playoff spot locked up from the first half.

Heading into the week, the Ballers would qualify for the postseason, but the team a half-game behind them is Northern Colorado.