Recapping the Oakland Ballers' Playoff-Clinching Final Week of the Season

Jason Burke, Madison Montez | Sep 9, 2024

Coming into the week, the Oakland Ballers had just finished up their last home stand of the regular season with a series win against the Idaho Chukars. Their next series would be their last of the regular season, playing against the Yolo High Wheelers who were right behind them in the second half standings. The magic number to clinch a spot in the playoffs was 3. 

The Ballers started out the series on Tuesday with a tough 15-4 loss. Zach St.Pierre recorded his 5th loss of the season only going 2 2/3 innings giving up five earned runs. Three of the four runs the Ballers scored came in the fourth inning. Tripp Clark gave the Ballers their fourth run, hitting a solo homer. New additions Tyler Best and Eamonn Lance also made their Ballers debut. 

The Ballers reversed the scoring spree, winning by a score of 12-2 in Wednesday's game. Conner Richardson stayed undefeated picking up the win. Brad Burckel was the most consistent in the lineup going 2-for-4 while driving in fpur runs and scoring once. Josh Leslie, Tripp Clark, and Daunte Stuart each drove in two runs. Tyler Best picked up his first hit in a Ballers uniform going 1-for-5. 

The Yolo hitters got the better of the Ballers pitchers in Thursday's Game where the Ballers fell 12-6. Justin Kleinsorge recorded his fifth loss of the season going 4 1/3 innings, giving up nine hits, six earned runs, two walks, and striking out four. Tyler Best played his  “best” game with the Ballers going 3-for-4 bringing in three runs and scoring once. 

If you saw a familiar face on the lineup card and weren’t sure if you were reading it correctly, you were. Kyle Guerra returned to Oakland after being with them in July and went 0-for-3 with a walk starting in CF.  

With a win in Friday's game, the Ballers could potentially clinch a spot in their inaugural season. It was a close game, but the Ballers came out on top winning 4-3. Luke Short recorded his third win of the season going five innings, giving up five hits, two earned runs, walking two and striking out one. Brad Burckel and Daunte Stuart both accounted for half of the runs the Ballers scored. Burckel continued with a hot bat going 2-for-4 bringing in two runs and Stuart went 1-for-5 bringing in 2 runs. The coaches called upon Connor Sullivan in the seventh inning where he picked up his second save of the season giving up two hits, no runs, and striking out three. 

Saturday’s game was the most important of the season. With a win, the Ballers would be crowned second half champions and have home field advantage for the playoff series. The Ballers ended up securing the win, 9-5. Tripp Clark was the standout player going 1-for-5 scoring once but smashing a grand slam in the first inning.  Brett Barerra found multiple ways to get on base which led to him bringing in two runs and scoring once. Zach St.Pierre recorded his seventh win of the season going three innings, giving up three hits, one run, walking two, and striking out two.

The Ballers ended the regular season with a 5-1 loss. Tyler Lozano was the lone player to drive in a run, which came in the top of the 5th where Lozano singled to left field, scoring Tripp Clark. Alex Valasek got his first start with the Ballers but also recorded his first loss. Valasek went four innings giving up nine hits, five earned runs, one home run, and struck out four. 

The Pioneer League playoffs will start on Tuesday the 13th where the Ballers will travel to Davis for Game 1 and then travel back to Oakland to play Yolo again on Thursday the 15th for Game 2. If they split the first two games and a Game 3 is needed, it will be played at Raimondi since the Ballers won on Saturday. Tickets went on sale Saturday morning and are quickly filling up. You can get your tickets here, or tune into FloSports to catch the action.