Yolo hit Oakland's party out of the ballpark
Yolo High Wheelers
(6-4)
9
Oakland Ballers
(7-6)
3
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Yolo High Wheelers | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 10 | 0 |
|
Oakland Ballers | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
Oakland, Ca.---The Yolo High Wheelers (6-4) scored two runs apiece in innings six-through-nine and defeated the Oakland Ballers 9-3, thus spoiling the housewarming party for the sellout paid crowd of 4,100 at Raimondi Park.
The High Wheelers belted a season-high four homers including two by left fielder Jose Gonzalez (1,2) his first duo as a professional. He had four RBI's giving him seven over his last two games.
Yolo trailed 2-1 going to the sixth inning when Gonzalez belted a solo homer to center which tied the game. After Oakland starter Derrick Cherry came out, High Wheelers first baseman Sam Kuchinski (1) greeted Ballers reliever Abraham DeLeon (0-1) with a homer. It was the first time the High Wheelers ever hit back-to-back homers. That gave the visitors the lead for good and made it 3-2. It was his first pro homer.
Catcher Angel Mendoza added to the parade with a leadoff clout (his first professionally) in the seventh making it 4-2 Yolo. Gonzalez drove home his second run with a force in the same inning which gave Yolo a 5-2 advantage. Then in the eighth it was Mendoza who added to the lead with a two-run single which made it 7-2 High Wheelers. In the ninth, Gonzalez hit the second of his homers, a two-run round-tripper, at that point it was 9-2 Yolo. Oakland added a run in the ninth but could not come any closer.
"Gonzalez is just swinging a really hot bat,"--said Yolo manager Billy Horton.
Yolo starter Cameron Repetti (1-0) earned the win going six innings which was a season-high for him. He struck out seven--most by a High Wheelers pitcher, and allowed just two runs both on an Oakland homer by Dondrei Hunter (3) in the first. Jack Zalasky, Connor Langrell, and Noah Estrella combined to strike out seven in three innings of relief with only one hit. The 14 punchouts for High Wheelers pitchers were the most for them this season.
"Cameron Repetti just dealt, he took over the game, he's a great competitor,"---said Horton. Pitching coach Jerome Williams added that "Repetti just competed with his heart!"
"Zalasky and Langrell were very impressive, six up and six down with five straight strikeouts,'' said Horton.
The second game of this six-game series will be tomorrow at Raimondi Park at 6:35 p.m. Left-hander Dawson Lane (0-0) will start for Yolo against Oakland right-hander Zach St. Pierre (0-1).
HIGH NOTES:
Second baseman Bobby Lada had a single in the seventh inning, he's reached base safely in all 11 Yolo games
Gonzalez was 2-5, and in his last seven games has 14 hits over 27 AB's (.519) with two homers and nine RBI's
All nine starters in the lineup reached base safely. It's the fourth such occurrence in the last seven games
Zalasky struck out the side on ten pitches, the last nine were strikes