I can’t think of a better home field for the Oilers than one in Bakery Square, ground zero for Pittsburgh gentrification. If I ever wind up in Social, I’ll slit my wrists and bleed all over the tech bros and trust funded faux artists that drink there and have helped price out the working class from the East End.
Bad News for the Oilers
South Oakland improved its record to 2-1, defeating the WOLFPACK (2-2) 9-6 in Spring Hill last night. Ducks starter, Chuck Zuzack (1-1) pitched four innings, scattering 9 hits, striking out 4. Catcher, Brandon Chartier went 3-for-3 with a walk, double and 2RBI and Andy Nichols went 2-for-2 with an RBI double and notched his first save of the season in relief.
The game was back and forth all night, with West View scoring two runs in the top of the first. The Ducks tied the game in the bottom of the second when Zuzack drove in Chartier with an RBI E6 and Sorosky scored on Nichols walk.
The WOLFPACK scored two more in the top of the third, and the Ducks answered with another two runs in the bottom of the third on Chartier’s RBI double. West View added one in the top of the fourth and the Ducks took the lead in the bottom half of the inning on two singles, an error and a walk.
The Ducks added one run in the fifth and two in the sixth. Musisko entered the game for Zuzack in the fifth and allowed one run in two innings of work, before Nichols recorded the save in the seventh.
***
I hope their second baseman’s leg is OK. He hurt it trying to make a sliding stop on a ball up the middle and it looked like his knee stuck and he had to be helped off the field. It’s terrible how much better shape the East End fields are in than Spring View. We need the gentrification to spread to Spring Hill and get some yuppie youth league playing there, and maybe that will change. We’ve been trying to find a better field for years, and haven’t been able to since the Oilers snagged Mellon out from under us in the great Ciccone defection of 2015.
This was a big win over a good team. We battled. Erasing 3 different West View leads before they ran out of arms. We also had a lot of good at bats and made them throw a lot of pitches. Last season we dropped a few winnable games early while management figured out where everyone fit, so far we’ve avoided that.
Next game is Tuesday, 6:45 at Hebrew Oilers in Shady Side.
quack
South Oakland takes on West View at home tonight at 9pm. The WOLFPACK played three games over the weekend, including an early season split-double header. They split with the Eagles and beat Cranberry. They are always tough to play against and they travel well. This would be a big early season win over one of the top teams in the league and should give us a good idea of where we stand early on.
Bad News for the WOLFPACK
South Oakland lost 9-4 to the Devils on Saturday. The game was 2-1 Devils in the third, then the Ducks relief pitching allowed 7 runs in two frames. The Ducks battled back to score three in the top of the seventh, but it was too little too late. The Ducks had the bases loaded for Tuomisto, trailing 2-0 in the 3rd, and he hit a deep line drive to left, but Huber made a nice catch for the Devils to end the threat. Huber later missed one while playing catcher that hit the ump in the balls.
Our best player was the kid we called up from single A. He went 2-for-3 stole 4 bases and scored twice. Ducks Pitcher Chuck Zuzak had a strong start, allowing 1 earned over 4 innings. Reliever Gary Musiko cleaned up the mess in the bottom of the sixth, striking out the last batter of the inning after allowing a single and a walk.
Overall not as bad a performance as the score might indicate.
The Ducks bounced back on Sunday to beat Cranberry 7-5 in Cranberry. South Oakland had RBI from DJ Dover and Jon Moore went 3-for-3. TJ Morgan went first to third on a single to right. Cranberry scored 3 in the bottom of the seventh to make it close.
The Ducks bullpen has been shaky, but when Andy Nichols and Brian Strom return from injury, it will help. If Moore and Sorosky can give us some innings we will be in great shape going forwards. Hard to say if we have no depth or great depth on the mound at this point. There’s a lot up in the air.
South Oakland will face the WOLFPACK Wed night at home. The schedule still says 8:30 so plan on that start time. However, there is a chance we will get pushed back by youth league.
quack
The Devils are another team that had a bad record last year, but managed to beat us for one of their few wins. They had the right to play in Single A this year, but chose to stay in Double A. Good for them. There are a bunch of guys on this team that I played 28+ Bulldogs with. Also, Chris Wojton is a beast. Who knows. Maybe they’ll be better this season.
We don’t have our full compliment of players on hand today, but we’ve got at least nine, so we’ve got a chance.
Bad News for the Devils
Tonight’s game has been called due to poor field conditions.
South Oakland plays the Devils Saturday, 12pm vs. at Herschel Park
and then plays Cranberry on Sunday, 3pm at Veteran’s Park in Cranberry
I trust everyone has been following the intense off-season training regimen put in place after last season, and that we will all be in mid-season form tonight.
South Oakland will start with four games in seven days. Of course, there’s a stretch from the end of May to mid-June where the Ducks play once a week. Fun scheduling quirk.
The Ducks added a few guys through the draft, and another pitcher off the street. Additionally, the team is in talks to bring back Ducks legend, infielder Andrew McCray, whose retired number 21 will still be worn by outfielder, TJ Morgan. The Commish might also make his long awaited debut in green and gold.
The Eagles upset the Ducks in the first round of the playoffs last year and then made a run to the semis, losing to the eventual champion Dirty Birds. South Oakland was without ace Doc Brown, who was busy saving the clock tower in Hill Valley.
We played the Eagles close in 3 regular season matches last year, but they beat us when it counted. Their manager is a solid guy. Really not much animosity here, considering they ended our season. Hopefully they’re coping with the tragic loss of Glenn Frey.
The start of every season brings optimism. The Ducks have added pitching depth, kept the core of last year’s team intact and look to make a run at the title again this year. Our lineup will produce runs and we will play solid defense. If our pitching holds, and our staff throws strikes, we can beat anyone. We still have some question marks, but we will figure something out. We really just need guys to throw strikes. Can’t stress that enough.
The best part of this season will be not driving five hours down route 51 to lose to Jefferson Hills by 13 runs and waste pitching in meaningless games.
So we will start this season on the night of a Pens playoff game, in cold weather at our field that will probably be in barely playable shape, with a few starters missing and one practice under our belt. Sounds like a recipe for domination.
Bad News for the Eagles
Ducks,
Register online asap and get your dues in.
quack
The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side gear up for their 14th season in 2016. We are the longest running franchise in the Pittsburgh NABA and have a long tradition of mostly winning.
As of now, the Ducks will return around 11 players from last year’s team and look to contend for the franchise’s 3rd title. Our lineup should be solid, but we lack pitching depth. We will have to roll the dice with the draft if we can’t figure something out before late March. I encourage pitchers from other teams to defect and play for us.
If you are a pitcher and want to play on our team email: bengwin4@gmail.com for details.
We also might need a catcher.
Returning players, pay your dues asap. Send coach a check or pay via paypal.
quack
South Oakland lost 12-5 to the Eagles today in Shaler. A couple key errors led to seven unearned runs.
This was a really frustrating game. We were missing our ace, and a couple starters, but we played poorly and the Eagles took advantage of our mistakes. They put the ball in play and we missed it and every error led to runs. Apparently the Eagles beat the Express today too.
This was a microcosm of the whole season for us. We got down after a few errors and we could not come back. Something was off this year and it’s hard to pinpoint. I think if we had some success early in a couple games we blew in the late innings, we could have had a better mentality throughout the season in tough spots. I don’t know. It was a rough year. Collectively, we underachieved right to the end.
But we will be back next year, and with little turnover and a season playing together we will be fine if we can add a couple arms to the top of the rotation. If the Black Sox disband, it might help up in this regard.
I take the blame as manager for not doing more to put guys in o to succeed this season.
My personal highlight of the season was the game at Pie Traynor when my daughter came to watch and I hit a ball about as far as I’ve hit one in ten years, for a triple to center. She was so fired up about it. Her dad hit a triple. That was worth all the hassle of running the team for me. That’s while I do it again next year, because my daughter likes watching her dad play baseball, and that won’t last for much longer.
One time she said to me, “Dad, remember when you lost ten to nothing? That wasn’t very good. But it’s OK. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose.”
So there’s some perspective, I guess, as I sulk in front of the TV, trying to muster the energy to shower.
Thank you, Ducks for giving me another year of baseball, and keeping the team going. Thanks, Joe Graff for doing the thankless job of running the league, again.
Thanks, Bob Faust and Garrett Moore for your years of service to the Ducks. Both Bob and Garrett retired folowing this season. Bob played for a total of five years in 2005-07 and 2014-15, while Garrett logged six seasons at various intervals between 2006 and 2015. Both guys showed up and helped out and played hard. You will be missed.
Thanks, to the fans who showed up every so often, sorry we couldn’t give you something better to watch this weekend.
Big thanks to the Limbachs who kept score and provided all kinds of support and positivity during a tough season.
I hope Jefferson Hills looses, whatever else happens in the playoffs.
Here are the team awards:
MVP:
Pat DiPaola
Defensive Player of the Year:
DJ Dover
Offensive Player of the Year:
Brandon Culp
(with a nod to great seasons at the plate by Morgan, Strom, Koshzow and Tuomisto)
quack.
South Oakland Ducks Baseball 