Bobby Lada's heroics lead Yolo to Championship
Davis, Ca.---Bobby Thomson hit the Shot Heard Around the World, Bobby Lada (1,2) hit the shot heard around Davis. The Yolo High Wheelers on a three-run homer with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning by the Yolo second baseman clinched the 2024 Pioneer League Championship in the team's first season. Lada homered in the sixth inning to get the team on the board, capped the dramatics with a first pitch clout off the left field pole sending a sea of white uniforms from the first base dugout to home plate in celebration with an 8-7 win over the Glacier Range Riders at Dobbins Field on Saturday afternoon. The High Wheelers won the series three games to one.
"I was just thinking of crushing that ball, that's what I was thinking, and that's what I did," Lada said about the home run. Ben Fitzgerald (1, 2) (Glacier third baseman) and I were college teammates at Louisiana and he hit two homers so I had to keep up with him."
Lada's homer wouldn't have happened if catcher Edwin DeLaCruz (hadn't played all post-season) hit a two-strike single with one out. Two batters later, Yolo was down to its last out and shortstop Braylin Marine dribbled a single along the grass third base side to keep the game alive which set up Lada's dramatics.
The homer capped a second comeback by the High Wheelers as they were down 5-0 after five innings. They responded with five runs in the sixth. Right fielder Tanner Smith (1) with the team down 5-1 hit a two-strike Grand Slam tying it. The other run in the sixth was Lada's homer.
Smith said, "our mentality with nine guys in the lineup is keep passing the stick to one another and that's what happened in sixth." Smith talked about the ninth, "we knew that good things were going to happen and as I said we pass the stick, and look what happened."
After the High Wheelers tied it, the Range Riders struck right back in the seventh on a two-out two-run homer by Fitzgerald. He finished with a three-run and two-run homer. His second round-tripper made it 7-5 Glacier. Fitzgerald had seven hits in the series.
Yolo manager Billy Horton summed it up, "I'm just so in awe of Lada's presence, and we have so many great guys on this team." "You can't script what happened here--this season. I had dreams throughout the year about how some of our games were going to end including a home run to win this game. I was jumping up and down, screaming Bobby Lada, Bobby Lada. I got lost like a little kid celebrating."
Brandon McPherson (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth inning to keep at a two-run deficit and he earned the win. Jonah Jenkins worked innings five and six with scorless frames which kept the game within range. Yolo starter Brendan Knoll gave up five runs (all earned) in four innings. It was the first game of post-season for all.
Overall, the High Wheelers combined to go 58-44.
HIGH TALES
First baseman Jose Gonzalez had hits in all seven post-season games (10-28, .357, HR)