Oakland Ballers Drop Game One, Now in Must-Win Mode Against Yolo

Jason Burke | Sep 11, 2024

Oakland Ballers teammates high five in celebration / Oakland Ballers

When the Oakland Ballers take the field for game two of their series against the Yolo High Wheelers, they'll be down in the series 1-0. While that may not seem like an insurmountable lead, the series is only slated for three games, so a single loss would eliminate them from the postseason.

The Ballers are in this position after suffering a 14-4 drubbing at the hands of the High Wheelers in Davis on Tuesday afternoon. The game was fairly close after six frames, with Yolo up 6-4, then the home team added another run in the bottom of the seventh, and put up a seven spot in the eighth to put the game out of reach.

Opposing pitcher Cameron Repetti went five innings, giving up three earned runs on ten hits, didn't allow a walk, and struck out three. Four of those hits came in the top of the second inning, as the Ballers hit four consecutive singles to score one run, and added another on an RBI groundout from shortstop Brad Burckel.

The Ballers collected three singles in the top of the third, but a strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play as Daunte Stewart tried to steal second while Noah Martinez struck out let that air out of that potential rally.

While the Ballers collected hits in bunches off Repetti, it felt like Oakland not being able to capitalize further on those opportunities changed the momentum in the game and led to the High Wheelers running away with game one.

In an odd twist, the Missoula PaddleHeads, the winners of the first half, also lost the first game of their series against the Glacier Range Riders, 4-2. Missoula (62-34) and Oakland (58-38) finished with the top two records in the Pioneer League this season.

Game two between the Ballers and High Wheelers will be on Thursday in Oakland at Raimondi Park, with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Chandler David (4-0, 3.30 ERA) is scheduled for the B's in that matchup, with Brandon McPherson (6-2, 5.22 ERA) going for the High Wheelers.

David began the year in Oakland's bullpen, but began starting games at the end of July, so how manager Aaron Miles plans to use him in this game is unknown. He went two innings on Saturday against Yolo, though he had gone at least four frames in each of his six starts up to that point, so yanking him early could have been a bit of gamesmanship with a playoff date looming.

In 19 1/3 innings pitched against the High Wheelers, David had allowed 12 hits, four earned runs, walked seven, and struck out 15.

One of these two franchises will be playing for the Pioneer League championship beginning on Sunday, and if either were to win that five-game series, they'd be the first expansion team in the Pioneer League in 25 years to win the championship in their debut season. In order to have a shot at history, the Ballers need to pull off a win in game two on Thursday to keep the dream alive.