2016 South Oakland Ducks

Ducks Win. South Oakland 15, Devils 5 (5 inn.)

2016 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, pittsburgh NABA, Recap, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland of the North Side (5-2) won its third straight game, defeating the South Hills Devils (2-4) by a score of 15-5 Wednesday night in Spring Hill.

Doc_Brown

Doc Brown (2-0) relieved starter Brian Strom in the third and pitched two and a third scoreless innings for the victory. Strom (ND) allowed one earned run, struck out one and did not bean the Devils catcher.

Erik Tuomisto went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a single and 3RBI and made a spectacular diving catch with the bases loaded and two out with runners on in the fourth. Brian Strom, batting in the eleventh spot in the order, went 2-for-2 with 2RBI. Casale went 2-for-2 with a walk and 3 runs scored, and made the defensive play of the game. On what looked like a sure single up the middle, he made a diving stop and threw the runner out from his knees. Ducks outfielder TJ Morgan was hit by a pitch and threw out a guy at second.

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South Oakland started slow, possibly still in shock that the field was in such good shape, and kicked the ball around in the first couple innings. The Devils jumped out to a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the third.

The Ducks scored two in the bottom of the third on an RBI ground out and a single. In the 4th inning, the Ducks scored three runs with two outs to take a 6-5 lead.

Wojton Clan

Then in the bottom of the fifth, South Oakland chased the South Hills starter, and scored 9 runs. The Ducks drew five straight walks off the Devils situational lefty, followed by a strikeout, a single, two more walks, another single and an almost grand slam by Tuomisto that lined into the ivy covering the centerfield wall for a double. The game ended on a bases loaded walk to Zuzak.

Game Day [10]: Ducks (6-3) vs Bulldogs (3-3)

After playing seven games in 18 days, the Ducks are tied for first place with a record of 5-2. Aside from the yet-to-be-rescheduled Express rainout, the schedule thins out a little for the next month or so, and our pitching will be back from honey mooning/the disabled list. It’s early, but things are setting up well for us. I like our depth.

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South Oakland’s next game is Sunday night, 8:30pm at John Herb Field vs. the WOLFPACK!!!

 

 

Ducks Win

2016 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland of the North Side (4-2) beat the South Side Eagles (2-4) by a score of 10-7 in an ugly win at Herschel Park.

Chuck Zuzak (3-2) pitched five strong innings for the win, and Tuomisto faced two batters for the save. Tuomisto doubled and drove in 2, Strom had 2RBI and both Gwin and Brandt drove in a runs via hit by pitch.

According to the schedule we should have been visitors this game, but the Eagles insisted we were the home team, and then we played the first two innings with those weird rubber coated baseballs supplied by South Side. Shrewd move on the Eagles part, as it might have prevented a home run by Tuomisto during the Ducks seven run first inning.

The Eagles fought back, scoring two in the 4th and one in the 5th. South Oakland scored three more in the fifth and held off a late Eagles rally.

Ben Sorosky was caught stealing.

South Oakland is now in first place after six games, but several teams have played 4 or fewer games. Shaler has only played twice so far. We’ve played everyone but Shaler, and it doesn’t look like anyone is going to run away with it. Double A should be the most competitive division the season.

The Ducks next game is 8pm Monday night in Carrick against the Express.

 

 

 

Express Yourself. Ducks Win: 4-3

2016 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland of the North Side (3-2) beat the Carrick Express (2-2) by a score of 4-3, behind a strong start by ageless wonder, Brian Strom and a game winning RBI by Andy Nichols in Spring Hill last night.

The Ducks lead 3-0 going into the top of the seventh, then Carrick tied it after four walks, a single and two ground outs.

Then a day after losing on a walk-off single to the Oilers, South Oakland came back and won in the seventh after Mike Brandt singled, to lead off the inning and pinch runner Musisko advanced to second on a ground out and scored on Nichols ground ball that was misplayed by Carrick’s short stop.

The game marked Ben Sorosky’s first win as Ducks interim manager.

South Oakland’s next game is this Saturday 12pm at Herschel Field against the Eagles

Game Day 5; Ducks vs Express

2016 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (2-2)

vs.

Carrick Express (2-0)

9PM

Springview Field

South Oakland looks to bounce back after a tough walk-off loss to the Oilers against the Carrick tonight in Spring Hill. The Express are always tough and are under new leadership with the semi-retirement of NABA legend and former manager John Vernaccio. The Express are one of a few league teams with a singular noun as their mascot. Can anyone name the others?

Maybe Abe Lincoln will bring us some luck during primary season.

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Bad News for the Express

 

 

Let it Bleed. Ducks Lose 3-2

2016 South Oakland Ducks, pittsburgh NABA, Recap

South Oakland lead 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh. With one out, BIG OIL  DONT YOU LOVE THE SONG YMCA IT IS AWSOME I SAID YOUNG MAN SOMETHING I SAID YOUNG MAN SOMETHING BA BO BABA  YMCAA

My daughter got ahold of my laptop there, I think I’ll just leave her work. An ode to the village people, mid-blog.

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So then, with one out BIG OIL drew two walks, then hit a double down the line to tie the score, then after an intentional walk to load the bases, some guy hit a game winning walk-off to right center over a drawn in outfield.

Morgan drove in a run in the first and Moore had an RBI double for the Ducks. Zuzack pitched five strong innings and Musisko pitched a scoreless sixth.

The Oilers have a good lineup. If their pitching holds, they will be tough to beat.

If the Oilers take two of three from us this year, I’ll buy their manager a drink at

Despite this loss, we have a good team and we’re coming together quicker than last season. Chemistry is a tricky thing, especially in baseball since it is based so much on individual match-ups. I feel like we will rally after this tough loss. How we come out tomorrow will be telling.

South Oakland plays next tomorrow night, 9PM at Spring Hill vs. the Carrick Express. Strom and Sorosky are in charge.

quack

Game Day 4: Ducks at Oilers

2016 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

at

Hebrew Oilers

6:45pm

Mellon Park

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.

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Bad News for the Oilers

 

 

Game Day 3: Ducks vs. WOLFPACK

2016 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (1-1)

vs.

West View Wolfpack (2-1)

9pm

Spring View Field

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.

KellyLeak_cigBad News for the WOLFPACK

Ducks Split Weekend Series. Face WOLFPACK in Home Opener Wednesday

2016 South Oakland Ducks, Ducks win, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, Recap

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

 

Game Day 1: Ducks at Devils

2016 South Oakland Ducks

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

at

South Hills Devils

12pm

Herschel Park

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.

Wojton Clan

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