First Half Wraps Up with 9-7 Victory
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Great Falls Voyagers | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
|
Oakland Ballers | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | X | 9 | 11 | 2 |
By Nevada Cullen
OAKLAND, Calif. -- There's no doubt that the Ballers had fun in their series finale against the Great Falls Voyagers on Sunday at Raimondi Park. They made a slew of defensive changes, including starting Dondrei Hubbard at catcher for the first time this season. And Oakland came back to beat the Voyagers 9-7 in a satisfying end to the first half of the Pioneer League season.
Great Falls got on the board first with an opposite-field, two-run long ball from Freddy Rojas Jr., his third home run of the six-game set. The Ballers responded immediately with a Josh Leslie solo shot in the bottom of the first, also his third dinger of the series and in the past two days.
Then, Oakland the bases with three walks for Coleton Horner. He cracked a grand slam, the fourth of the year for the Ballers, to put his team ahead 5-2 after just one inning.
The Voyagers got one run back with a Ryan Major solo bomb in the third. The very next inning, Major went yard again, a three-run blast to retake the lead, 6-5.
Great Falls and Oakland traded runs in the fifth, so the Ballers still trailed by a run entering the bottom of the seventh. Trevor Halsema singled up the middle to lead off the frame and bring the go-ahead run to the plate.
Next, Noah Martinez stepped to the plate with chance to play hero. He did just that, crushing a two-run tater to dead center to hand the Ballers an 8-7 edge.
Later in the frame, Horner singled for his second hit of the contest. Jaylen Smith snuck a pinch-hit single into left to extend Oakland's advantage to 9-7.
After Kelsie Whitmore turned in a season-high 3.2 innings, Brody Eglite and Zach St. Pierre stifled the Voyagers for the rest of the afternoon. Eglite allowed just one hit over three innings, and St. Pierre blanked Great Falls over 2.1 hitless frames to earn the win.
The second half of the PBL season starts Tuesday, and the Ballers begin with a nine-game road trip at the Yolo High Wheelers. First pitch on Tuesday from Davis is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. PDT. As always, you can listen on 860 AM The Answer.
