Ballers Obliterate Franchise Records in 31-5 Win
August 22, 2024 - Pioneer League (PL)
Oakland Ballers News Release
WINDSOR, Colo. -- There's a new football team in the Bay: the Oakland Ballers.
The Ballers bombarded the Northern Colorado Owlz with eight runs in the first inning and finished with 10 in the ninth to win 31-5 on Wednesday, smashing franchise records for runs and hits in a single game. Brett Barrera bashed a hat-trick of home runs and drove in a season-high eight runs, one of many star-studded performances by the Oakland offense.
Nearly lost in it all was Zach St. Pierre 's stellar start, as the Oakland right-hander shoved for seven innings. St. Pierre struck out a season-best eight hitters en route to the victory.
Payton Harden kickstarted Oakland's eight-run first with a leadoff single up the middle. Daunte Stuart drove him in with a wind-aided, opposite-field dinger to right field.
Noah Martinez walked and Dondrei Hubbard doubled to right center before an out could be recorded in the inning. Brett Carson scored them both with a single past second to extend the lead to 4-0.
Brad Burckel brought home a couple more with a line-drive double into the left-field corner, knocking Northern Colorado starter Mark Tindall out of the game. Finally, Stuart completed the eight-spot with a two-run single through the right side, upping his RBI total to four in the first frame.
Jackson Coutts got the Owlz on the board with a run-single to center in the bottom of the inning. With that knock, Coutts broke his own franchise record for RBI in a season, getting to 90 on the year.
But the Ballers kept scoring in the second. Hubbard singled through the left side, and Barrera lifted a fly ball to right that drifted out of the park for a homer, inflating Oakland's cushion to 10-1. Harden sent a two-out double into left to add another for the Ballers.
Martinez made matters worse for the Owlz in the fourth. The lefty crushed a grand slam to center, his second of the season, to put the Ballers up 15-1.
Oakland plated four more in the eighth. In the inning, Barrera jumped all over a hanging breaking ball for a two-run blast to center, his second long ball of the night.
Northern Colorado outfielder Abdel Guadalupe pitched the ninth and was the victim of the Ballers' 10-run inning. Hubbard, a right-handed hitter by trade, stood in from the left side to begin the inning and dropped his fourth hit of the contest into right.
Next, Barrera swatted his third big fly of the night to left center, good for his first three-homer game of the season. Carson capped off the ballgame with a two-run tater to left center, as he tied his season-high with his fifth knock of the night.
Oh, by the way, the Ballers' blowout win, their fifth consecutive victory, puts them just a game out of first place in the second-half standings. First pitch for game three of the six-game series is set for 5:15 p.m. PDT on Thursday. As always, you can listen on 860 AM The Answer.
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