Ballers Blast Three Homers in 6-4 Loss

By Nevada Cullen

OAKLAND, Calif. -- A night after Micah Yonamine launched three dingers to beat the Ballers, Oakland knocked three of its own out of the park in Wednesday's battle with the Boise Hawks. But, the Hawks outlasted the Ballers, 6-4, taking the lead in the ninth to earn the victory.

Kelsie Whitmore opened the game for Oakland, making her first appearance in a month since leaving for international duty with the USA Baseball Women's National Team. She retired the side in order in the first.

The Ballers grabbed the initial edge in the bottom of the frame. Stephen Wilmer slammed an opposite-field solo shot to left for his third big fly in his last six contests.

Boise bagged the lead in the second. Nicholas Klemp and Trevor Minder began the inning with singles, and Tyner Hughes sent a grounder through the left side to score them both.

Oakland regained the lead in the bottom of the second inning. Brett Carson lined a single to left and Josh Leslie lined a two-out, two-run home run that just snuck over the wall in left field to hand the Ballers a 3-2 cushion.

The Hawks punched back in the third. Minder drew a bases-loaded walk to knot the game at three, and Noah Marcelo lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to make the score 4-3 Boise.

Noah Martinez tied the contest at four in the fifth. He launched a two-out, opposite-field goner to left for his 13th round-tripper of the year.

Intent on keeping the score level, Brody Eglite pitched the middle innings for the Ballers. He tied his season high with six strikeouts and did not yield a hit, extending his scoreless-innings streak to 19.

The score remained locked at four until the ninth inning. Following a couple of Oakland errors, Tyler Jorgensen produced a run-scoring single up the middle to put Boise ahead for good. Max Jung-Goldberg added an RBI knock in the frame, resulting in a 6-4 win for the Hawks.

First pitch for the third game of the six-game set between the Ballers and Hawks is at 6:35 p.m. PDT on Thursday. As always, you can listen on 860 AM The Answer.