South Oakland Ducks Baseball

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.

kirkcelebrate

Bad News for the Oilers

 

 

Ducks Win. South Oakland 9, West View 6

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

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_Pack_Wolfpack_Party_coverThe 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.

Peep Guillotine

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.

***do-not-trust-ducks

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.

Tyranny-of-Oil-cover-198x300

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.

RAMBO

Next game is Tuesday, 6:45 at Hebrew Oilers in Shady Side.

quack

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 vs Eagles

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

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

vs.

South Side Eagles

8:30pm

Springview Field

 

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.

Duck

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.

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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.

Doc_Brown

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.

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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.

duck pnc

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 Swim Into Playoffs

2015 South Oakland Ducks Baseball, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland of the North Side has won three straight and four of their last five games to finish with a semi-respectable 10-11 record. The Ducks clinched the 5th seed with a 10-0 win over the Devils, last Sunday.

The Ducks have won their last two games by a combined score of 26-6.

Our game vs. the Bulldogs tonight was cancelled becuase the city gave our rain date to the youth league that plays at Spring Hill, didn’t tell anyone until this afternoon, and we couldn’t find an open field anywhere else tonight on such short notice.

I guess it’s fitting. The regular season was somewhat disappointing (as was the blog), but high points include beating the defending champion WOLFPACK 7-1, the wild, 13-12 walkoff win vs. Cranberry, and the walkoff come-from-behind 3-2 win against the Eagles last week.

We can make up for all that mediocrity with a couple wins this weekend.

Our lineup matches up well. We scored 121 runs in 21 games. If we keep playing sound defense, we can make a run at it, especially given the playoff format. We just have to get past the play-in game. The one and done round is intense.

Here is the bracket:

Screen Shot 2015-07-12 at 4.26.01 PM

Here are the standings, pending the outcome of tonight’s Carrick / WOLFPACK! game

Screen Shot 2015-07-15 at 10.19.14 PM

On Saturday morning we will play the Eagles, with whom we have split a pair of really close games this season.

If we lose to the Eagles our season is over.

If we win, we will play the winner of the Cranberry vs. Oilers Game immediately following the Eagles game.

I remember when the Eagles had a lefty shortstop for like 3 years and routinely beat us anyway. Bad times.

Hopefully we have 3 games next weekend for me to not recap.

quack.