Gameday 7: Ducks at Sorcerers

2017 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, pittsburgh NABA

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (4-2)

at

Wexford Sorcerers (0-0)

12pm

North Allegheny Intermediate High School

South Oakland looks to rebound after a tough loss to the Eagles when they take on Wexford today at noon.

Wexford hasn’t played a game yet, and they’re new to the league this year. Who knows what’s up with this team. I think they’re young. Their coach seems like a decent guy from the league meetings.

If you have the balls to name your team the Sorcerers, you’re either going to go undefeated, or be absolutely terrible. I don’t think there’s much of a middle ground in this regard.

Here’s what comes up when you google sorcerers baseball.

Lots of disney hats and a few girls softball teams. Also a picture of this game:

Who’s still got a Dreamcast? I remember this game for  Sega Genesis. Solid non-EA Sports baseball action. So thank you, Wexford, for allowing me to find this image. Sweet green helmet and batting gloves on that guy, love the two-stripe cleats that don’t violate the Adidas trademark.

Here’s a thirty minute video of this game on youtube:

Bad News for the Sorcerers

Dental Dammed. Ducks 4, Eagles 5

2017 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

This post is brought to you by Ondek Bats.

South Oakland (4-2) dropped a nail biter to the South Side Eagles, 5-4 in Spring Hill Wednesday night. With the win, the Eagles (4-0) retain sole possession of first place.

South Side scored a run in the first off a couple walks, and a single.

The Ducks took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth but the Eagles tied the game in the top of the fifth, and added runs in the sixth and seventh.

Sorosky struck out seven batters and was cruising until he ran out of gas and walked some guys. Nichols gave us three solid innings in relief. He escaped a bases loaded one out jam in the fifth, and kept the game close. There was a suspect balk call that I didn’t really see which moved a guy to second, and he scored on a single.

Trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh, the Ducks had runners on second and third with no outs, but could only plate one run. The Eagles relief pitcher worked out of trouble, and they threw out two guys at home.

It was a well played game by two evenly matched teams.

We ran ourselves out of a couple innings, but I’d rather we make aggressive mistakes than passive ones. Still, we need to pick our spots a little better.

Our pitching was good enough to win, and we had a shot at it in the seventh. Frustrating way to lose.

I like how we’ve battled in the first six games. 4-2 at the quarter mark is pretty good.

South Oakland’s next game is Saturday at 12pm. vs. the mysterious Wexford Sorcerers at North Allegheny Intermediate School.

quack.

 

 

 

Gameday 6: Ducks vs. Eagles

2017 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (4-1)

vs

South Side Eagles (3-0)

9pm

Spring View Field

The Ducks look to win their fifth straight tonight when they play the undefeated South Side Eagles.

These games are always close. We beat them by 2 in the playoffs last year, like 13-11 or something. I assume tonight’s game will be lower scoring, but also close.

I still remember when the Eagles had a left shortstop who also pitched and had this huge looping curve ball that was pretty good. That was in like 2007. The Eagles franchise has been around for a while. Ducks pitcher Adam Smith defected one year to play for the Eagles in 2008, which intensified the rivalry between the clubs and between him and one time Ducks manager and pitcher, TC Jones.

I don’t know. Since the early days, the eagles haven’t really had much of an identity other than the team that can hit. Ducks and Eagles were in different divisions for a while after the A – AA split, and then again, I think, after the second reshuffling when the Ducks dropped down, the Eagles moved up which has made it hard to develop much of a rivalry.

That guy with the mouth piece sure fucking talks a lot though. However their coach makes sweet bats. Cancels out I guess.

We have a chance to put some distance between us and the middle of the pack and put some pressure on the Oilers and the WOLFPACK! and the Bandidos who are surprisingly 1-3, but I think are going to be good.

55 is on the hill tonight.

Bad news for the Eagles

 

 

Go to Hell. Ducks 5, Devils 4

2017 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, Recap

South Oakland of the North Side (4-1) ,came from behind to beat South Hills 5-4 on a walk-off RBI single by Tom Pulice Monday night in Spring Hill.

Ducks super utility player, Joe Graff started the game when South Oakland’s scheduled starter arrived late due to work commitments. Graff allowed 0 earned runs over two innings, but the Devils scored 3 runs on a single, a walk and like seven errors. But Graff battled, and kept us in it until Patton entered the game and went the last five innings, also allowing 0 earned runs, and working out of a few jams created by bad hops on the pristine Spring View infield, and more Ducks errors.

I think the Devils had 3 hard hit balls all night. We need to make fewer errors going forward.

South Oakland trailed 4 -1 going into the bottom of the sixth, as the Devils pitcher was throwing pretty well and we hit a few balls right at their guys.

Bryan Chvarek (sic.) drove in two runs with a long single to right center. His first hit as a Duck, cutting the lead to 4-3.

Pulice threw out some guy at second in the top of the seventh after he bunted for a base hit.

In the bottom of the seventh, all with 2 outs, Casale singled in Gwin from second to tie the game at 4, J. Zuzak worked a walk, and Pulice singled in Casale.

Ducks win.

Last year, what fucked us out of a bye was losing games to teams that finished in the bottom half of the standings. Big time efforts by a bunch of guys who don’t normally start to keep that from happening last night.

The Ducks have won four straight, setting up a big early season match-up with the undefeated Eagles tomorrow at Springview Field.

quack.

 

 

Ducks Win. South Oakland 6, West View 3

2017 South Oakland Ducks

Randy Patton (W, 1-1) pitched six strong innings, and Tom Pulice added three hits to lead the Ducks past West View.

The Wolfpack (1-1) scored two in the bottom of the first, but were held mostly in check the rest of the game while South Oakland (3-1) scored two in the fourth, three in the fifth, and one in the seventh off several different West View pitchers.

Ducks shortstop DJ Dover made a nice play to let a soft liner drop in front of him to turn a double play early in the game.

There was only a minor dust up when accusations of runner interference or something were made and shouting ensued, but never really escalated. Par for the course. The ump was telling me this happens all the time with that team

Doc pitched a scoreless seventh for his first save of the year.

West View pitchers recorded 14 Ks. They will be tough this season.

South Oakland of the North Side has won three straight on the season, and two straight vs. West View, dating back to last year’s playoff win.

Stats of Note:

Pulice: 3-4, 2RBI

Morgan: 1-1, 3BB, R

Patton: W, 6IP, 2ER, 6K, 1BB

Koshzow: 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R, CS

South Oakland’s next game is Wed, 9PM at home against the Devils.

quack

Ducks Win; South Oakland 11, Carrick 1 (5 inn.)

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

Ducks starter, Ben Sorosky (W, 1-0) struck out five, and allowed one unearned run over four innings and DJ Dover went 2-for-3 with a HBP, three-run home run, and a game ending two-run single to lead the Ducks (2-1) to an 11-1 route over the Carrick Express.

Carrick jumped out to an early lead, scoring an unearned run in the first, on a walk, an error and a single.

South Oakland sent nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the first, and took a 3-1 lead. Casale singled and took second on a wild pitch, Gwin singled, Lombardi doubled, Koshzow was hit by a pitch then Carrick turned a home to first double play followed by singles by Strom and Pulice.

the Ducks scored six in the second, Lombardi doubled in Casale, Koshzow was hit by another pitch, Morgan doubled to the wall, and then Dover hit a ball over the left field fence. It wasn’t a cheap home run.

Sorosky got out of a bases loaded, no-out jam in the fourth thanks to a 9-3 double play, turned by Moore and Koshzow, and a strike out to end the threat.

Pat “Doc” DiPaola un-retired and pitched a scoreless fifth, hitting one batter.

Carrick’s third baseman made several solid plays in the field to keep the game from getting even more out of hand.

Some sats:

Eleven Ducks had hits

Pulice: 3 for 3

J. Zuzak: 0-1, SB

Petril: 2-2, R

Koshzow: 3-4, 3 R, 2 HBP

RBI

Dover (5), Lombardi, Morgan (2),  Gwin, Pulice, Strom

South Oakland’s next game is Sunday, 8:30 PM at John Herb Field, vs. West View

quack

 

Gameday 3: Ducks vs. Express

2017 South Oakland Ducks

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

vs

Carrick Express (1-3)

9pm

Springview Field

Last night’s game vs the Oilers was rained out. There was just enough rain at just the wrong time to render the field unplayable.

Tonight the Ducks look to win their second straight vs. the Express who apparently have new uniforms. Curious to see how they’ve re-branded the team after a tenuous offseason. If I ran that team, I would just get t-shirts with Nolan Ryan’s face on them.

Should be a good one tonight. Carrick has always had solid pitching, but they’ve historically found ways to lose games in spite of this. South Oakland typically has won with offense, but I like our rotation this season. We have two former militia members ready to go tonight on full rest thanks to yesterday’s rain out.

Bad News for the Express.

Gameday 3: Ducks at Hebrew Oilers LLC

2017 South Oakland Ducks, Gameday, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

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

at

Hebrew Oilers (2-1)

6:45pm

Mellon Park

Spring Hill Scooter Series, Game 2.

Last season, a scooter that was thrown on top of our dugout from the area near the basket ball court by a Spring Hill kid. We kept the scooter. Since then, the winner of the Ducks/Oilers regular season series is awarded the scooter and keeps it for the following season. South Oakland took 2 of 3 from BIG OIL in 2016, but we lost to them twice in the playoffs so, maybe it’s not a great indication of post-season success.

The Oilers beat us 7-1 in a rain-shortened game on opening night. If they win tonight, the scooter is theirs.

We are going to be short our entire starting infield tonight. Our depth will be tested.

Bad News for the Oilers

 

Ducks Win: South Oakland of the North Side 11, Cranberry 3

2017 South Oakland Ducks

Ducks pitcher, Chuck Zuzak (W, 1-0) allowed 3 runs, (1 earned) over six innings, striking out 7 and hitting four batters, to lead South Oakland (1-1) to its first win of the season.

Not to be outdone, Cranberry pitchers combined to hit four Ducks. They unfortunately also threw a bunch of wild pitches/past balls, which allowed many Ducks runners to advance and runs to score. The loss drops the newly minted Crusaders to 0-1.

South Oakland scored 4 in the second, 3 in the fifth, and 2 in both the sixth and seventh innings. The Ducks never trailed.

Some stats

Lombardi: 2-5, R, 2 2B

Pulice: 1-2, HBP, BB, CS, R

Morgan: 1-1, R HBP

Petril: 0-0, R, 2 HBP

RBI:

Casale, Gwin (2), Moore, Nichols, Maldonado, Pulice

South Oakland’s next game is Tuesday night, 6:45 at Mellon Park vs BIG OIL.

quack

 

Die a Hero: Oilers 7, Ducks 1

2017 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

South Oakland of the North Side lost to rival BIG OIL 7-1 in a rain-shortened, 5 inning  game in Spring Hill last night. The loss drops the team to 0-1.

Throwback night, 2014

The Oilers scored four in the first with two walks, two doubles, a single and a run-scoring, two out error.  They added two in the second and one in the fifth.

After a rough first inning, Ducks starter Randy Patton (L, 0-1) settled down and kept his team in it through four, striking out 2 and scattering 7 hits.

The Oilers starter threw well, striking out 9 and working out of bases loaded jams in the second and third innings when it looked like South Oakland might crawl back into the game. The Ducks couldn’t get a big hit with runners in scoring position.

Ben Sorosky had the lone Ducks RBI on a bases loaded walk in the second following infield singles by Pulice and Morgan and a Joe Graff walk.

South Oakland’s best chance came in the third when TJ Morgan drew a one out, bases loaded walk, but the umpire forgot the count. Morgan was not awarded first, and we had a runner picked off first base, attempting to advance as one normally does on a bases loaded walk. Morgan then lined out to left to end the inning.

South Oakland’s next game is 2pm Sunday vs. Cranberry at Veteran’s Park of Cranberry (Not the one in Etna).

 

  • No ringers on the Oilers, but something tells me the player eligibility discussion is not over yet.
  • The Oilers have a few new guys who are solid. They hit well as a team, and if they get pitching, they will be tough to beat. This is true for almost every team in our division.
  • The Scooter will be in the building on Tuesday at Mellon. Big early season matchup
  • We need to hit a better, but as a team our approach at the plate was pretty good. Facing a tough lefty for the first real at bats of the year was a good test, and I think we will improve in this area.
  • There were multiple requests for Garrett Moore to return to his role as bench coach/bullpen catcher
  • Great to be back at it for a fourteenth NABA season, and a run at a third title.

quack