Category Archives: South Oakland Ducks Baseball

Ducks Win: South Oakland 4, Cranberry 3

Posted by mightyeskimo in 2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, Ducks WIn, pittsburgh NABA and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ducks pitcher Robert Patton (2-0) earned his second straight victory, allowing 1 ER over five innings, to lead South Oakland of the North Side (5-1, 6-5-2) past Cranberry (1-3, 4-8) Saturday afternoon.

Cranberry scored a run early with a two out rally in the bottom of the first on a walk and two singles. South Oakland took the lead in the third when with two out, Guthrie singled, Ken Cool was hit by a pitch, and a past ball moved the runners to second and third. Gwin singled in Ken Cool and Guthrie to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead.

In the fifth, South Oakland scored two more runs on an  almost identical series of events. Guthrie walked with two outs. Ken Cool singled and Guthrie advance to third. Ken Cool stole second and Gwin singled in Guthrie and Ken Cool to put the Ducks up 4-1.

Cranberry made it interesting with 2 unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth, the inning ended when Fago threw out a guy trying to steal second.

In the sixth, with runners on first and second and no body out, Ducks first baseman Bobby Swartwout threw out a Cranberry runner at third on a botched sacrifice attempt, then made a nice over the shoulder catch on a pop-up and doubled off the guy at first to end the inning.

Cranberry stranded runners on second and third to end the game.

Ducks outfielder TJ Morgan went 3-for-3 on the day.

***

Earlier in the year we were letting leads slip away into ties, and ridiculous 11-10 losses. It’s good to hold on and win tight games.

Yesterday the Black Sox dropped both games to Clinton, and fell to 0-4 in the division, with another game against the 3-1 Cherokee today at 3pm.

With the Black Sox at 0-4, and Cranberry at 1-3 and those two teams still facing each other three more times, we’ve almost clinched a playoff spot.

I’m really surprised to see Kenny Powers and Brookline in last place.

South Oakland plays Elliot Monday night at 9pm before a huge game against the Cherokee Wednesday night at home with first place on the line.

quackquackquack.

Ducks Win:

Posted by mightyeskimo in 2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, Ducks WIn, South Oakland Ducks Baseball and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

South Oakland 6, Cranberry 1

Bobby Swartwout (sp) drove in three runs, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and a single off the wall to lead South Oakland (4-1, 5-5-2) past Cranberry Wednesday night. Ducks pitcher James Fago allowed one unearned run over six innings, holding Cranberry to 3 hits and recording an estimated 9 Ks. I have now gone from spelling out numbers to writing them as numerals.

Cranberry scored their run early on a walk, a hit batter, a past ball and an error in some order.

The Ducks tied the game in the third when Ken Cool doubled and scored from second on an infield hit by Gwin who reached third on a double by our new utility infielder. Fago walked and scored on Swartwout’s bases clearing double.

South Oakland added another run on a sac fly by centerfielder TJ Morgan.

I don’t know where we’d be without Morgan this season, and I’m at a complete loss as to how we scored our other run. I think a groundout.

Robert Patton pitched a perfect seventh to preserve the victory.

There are still players on our team who haven’t met each other. There are at least four guys whose names i don’t know, and may never know, but after a brutal start that included a 17 – 1 loss to the Bulldogs, we’re playing better baseball.

We have another important division game against Cranberry Saturday 2pm, at North Boundary Park.

Quack.

The Roster

Posted by mightyeskimo in 2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball, who names their team the Rebels? and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side will rol out a roster featuring the top players from the 2007 team, and members of the Fightin’ Ra 2009 League Champion Hurricanes.

Everyone is excited to get the season started. It will be the Ducks 10th.

Realignment was discussed last league meeting, no clue how that panned out.

Big time rivalry with the cherokee. Bring your smallpox-infested blankets to that one.

Godspeed flip, berdine and tish, etc.

I put the over/under on how long that team lasts at 1.5 seasons.

And there’s a new rebels team apparently, who we will not play as they are in the A division.

quack.

Spring and the 2012 Ducks

Posted by mightyeskimo in 2012 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball and tagged with , , , ,

After a rough start to the offseason and a few months of uncertainty, South Oakland management has rallied to put together what will be a competitive team for 2012.

Projected line up:

Dave Lewandowski CF

Ken Cool 3b

James Fago P/C

Matt Stahl 1b

Chris Roth Rf

Kirk Gibson SS

Brett Pusateri 2b

Ben Hartranft C/DH

Mark Guthrie P/OF

Ben Gwin OF

Management is still in negotiations with Tony Casale, Mike Watson and Hartranft’s rotator cuff. Hopefully all three are ready to contribute this summer.

We’ll add pitching depth through the draft, etc.

Quack.

And We Start Again…

Posted by mightyeskimo in South Oakland Ducks Baseball, who names their team the Rebels? and tagged with , , , , , ,

James Fago is our manager this season, and he’s in the best shape of his life.

Get in touch with him (or me, if you must) if you plan on playing this season. As always, roster spots go to returning Ducks before we fill in the gaps with Dominican League players Rob Cool knows through some ex-AAU coach, who used to play DII ball in Eastern Ohio, and sells sneakers out of the back of a truck at Waynesburg away games.

We owe the league our first $500 in the next few weeks, and Nike is sending people to my home trying to shake me down for the money we didn’t raise to cover our unis last year.

We’ll get it figured out soon.

We run a tight ship in South Oakland.

Motivation?

Quack.

Playoff Gameday [5&6] Ducks vs Elliot

Posted by mightyeskimo in 2011 Ducks Baseball, League Champion South Oakland Ducks, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

(Despite the damp weather, as of 11am, we’re still on for today.)

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

vs

Elliot

Pittsburgh NABA Finals

Woodland Hills High School

Game 1 3pm

Game 2 5:30pm

lets get two in a row

We have a chance to prove ourselves against the only team we couldn’t beat during the regular season.

Last year it was finally over coming the black sox, now we can win an unprecedented second straight and third overall title.

All I’ve asked for as a manager is that we maintain the identity of a gritty, blue-collar team, regardless of how much talent we bring on.

As far as I can tell we’ve done that.

Bad News for Elliot

The Final Countdown DH 3pm Woodland Hills

Posted by hunglikemoose9 in 2009 Ducks Baseball, 2011 Ducks Baseball, 60th Win, Duckz, Gameday, League Champion South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side take on Elliott in a series that once again has the top two teams from the Monongahela division represented. We were 0-3 this season against these guys and could have won all 3. Our bats need to heat up again to keep this going and we have practice tomorrow 7pm at Springview to do it.

quack

We’re Going to the ‘Ship: Ducks Win 2-0, Sweep Bulldogs

Posted by mightyeskimo in Ducks WIn and tagged with , , , , , ,

Jim Teyssier pitched a complete game shutout, striking out 9, while allowing just 3 hits and walking 2.

South Oakland scored its first run with two out in the bottom of the second, on three straight singels by Baumgartel, Smith and Gwin.

The Bulldogs left two men on base in the top of the third and would not threaten again.

In the bottom of the fourth, Fago walked, and pinch runner Tim Lipp stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error; he scored on Nick Berdine’s rbi single to left.

The Ducks will face Elliot in the finals on Saturday time and place to be determined.

quackquackquackquackquack.

Ducks Fly through Hurricanes and soar to the Semis

Posted by hunglikemoose9 in 2009 Ducks Baseball, 2011 Ducks Baseball, Bulldogs, Ducks WIn, Ducks/Bulldogs golf outing, Duckz, Gameday, League Champion South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, Recap, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

In a battle of formidable foes, two of the premier pitchers in the NABA faced off at Joe Graff a.k.a. Volunteer Field. I have been playing baseball for a long time and this is one of the best games I have ever been apart of. The Ducks of old would be proud as we committed 0, that’s right 0 errors. Not even Berdine could Faff it up. Tish was a master on the mound against a great Hurricane lineup and our offense picked up where it left off and gave him a huge early cushion against a very good pitcher.

The top of the first went smoothly, Tish didn’t allow a baserunner until the 5th. The Ducks faced off against Rafalski throwing from the top of Mt. Everest and kept up the hot bats, scoring 4 of the first 5 to come to the plate and 6 overall in the bottom of the first. Lipp lined a ball in the hole to lead it off, advancing to second on T.J.’s single up the middle, and ending up at third after a botched ball by the Hurricane’s third baseman. I guessed right and started early to send a fastball to the left centerfield fence to score two and end up on second.

After watching this video I sent Gwin the following text…

July 25, 2011 12:46 PM I think we we win 2-0 berdine hits a bomb with flip on

With Flip on third, Berdine demolished a 1-0 slider over the high right centerfield at Volunteer into the trees, I got a chub. The feathered ones of South Oakland didn’t stop there. With two outs Ben “Benedict” Gwin rifled a single into right followed by Kenny Cool and then Tim Lipp’s second single of the inning, finally scoring on a Raflaski walk to Zarewicz.

Ben Gwin’s Senior Yearbook Photo

Ducks 6 Hurricanes 0

The second inning only saw three batters a side, but in the third the Ducks broke through for our 7th and final run. I hit the ball harder for an out to start off this inning than I did for my double in the first so I can’t be too upset, and only Fletch saw that the throw was offline and my lack of hustle cost us a baserunner… I owe him laps. Baumgartel and Berdine stayed hot with  singles and Gwin wore a 90 mph fastball on the right shoulder to load the bases with 2 outs. Kenny Cool worked a fast ball count and swung early, sending a spinner out in front of the mound, Rafalski bobbled, fondled, and juggled the ball for a hustle E-1 and another Duck run.

Ducks 7 Hurricanes 0

The rest of the game was dominated by pitching and Duck defense. The only runner to reach second was Rafalski after a two out double, and one of the Hurricane’s 4 baserunners was thrown out at second on a strike em’ out, throw em’ out double play in the 6th. The last out was recorded as Holloway grounded out to Tish and the Ducks shutout the Hurricanes for the third time this season.

Some important facts about the Ducks this season.

-We shutout teams 12 times this season

-Elliot is second with 7

-We have outscored our opponents 22-0 in our two playoff games

-With 45 posts last time I checked, the last post was the most popular I have ever seen and it was a blurry playoff bracket and large Duck penis reference.

The Bulldogs beat us 14-1 and tore Whalen’s leg open in the first game of the year, they have outscored us 14-2. Pitching will be key, defense will be imperative, offense will be crucial. If South Oakland plays the way they have in the last two games, we won’t need a game 3. The bark of the Bulldogs vs. the quack of the Ducks this Saturday, venue and time TBA. Rob Cool is still gay.