amateur baseball

Is That Jon Moore’s Music? Ducks Sweep Playoff Double Header

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

South Oakland (2-1) upset the top two seeds to advance to the loser’s bracket final in a wild Sunday double header at John Herb Field yesterday. The South Oakland Ducks beat the second-seed Eagles 9-8, and the one-seed WOLFPACK!!! 12-8.

South Oakland plays tonight 8:30 vs. BIG OIL for a spot in the finals.

The_Eagles_-_Desperado

Game 1 Recap:

Ben Sorosky drove in five runs and the Ducks infield made several high-level plays on defense to lead the Ducks past the South Side Eagles (0-2).

South Oakland scored a run in the first on TJ Morgan’s RBI groundout, the Eagles answered with 2 in the bottom of the inning, but had a guy thrown out at home and another picked off second.

The Ducks scored two in the second on Sorosky’s single and three more in the third behind an RBI single by Koshzow and sacrifice flies by Graff and Moore.

6-2 Ducks after 3.

d2-the-mighty-ducks

The Eagles worked out of a jam in the fourth, and scored a run in the bottom of the inning to bring the score to 6-3 after 4.

In the fifth, Sorosky drove in two more runs on a fielder’s choice, with Graff hustling all the way from second to score.

8-3 Ducks going into the bottom of the fifth.

The Eagles were doubled off on a fly-out to right when the runner didn’t re-tag second. He was not happy. The Eagles added one run in the inning.

8-4 Ducks going into the bottom of the sixth.

The Eagles rallied. they scored four in the inning and had the bases loaded with one out when Dipaola got their two hitter to ground into a bases loaded, 5-3 double play.

doc naba

The game was tied 8-8 going into the seventh.

Koshzow leadoff for the Ducks with a HBP and went to third on Moore’s single to right. More stole second. Then with one out, Ben Sorosky drove in the winning run with an RBI groundout to the shortstop.

In the bottom of the seventh, after a lead-off single, South Oakland turned a  4-6-3 double play, and then the game ended on a legit Jeter play on a ground ball in the hole to Ducks, shortstop Tony Casale. Casale had maybe the best defensive day I’ve seen by a shortstop in this league.

Final: 9-8 Ducks.

The Eagles made a few base running errors in the game. We ran the bases well. That was essentially the difference in this one. We had a chance to crumble in the 6th and 7th but held it together with a couple clutch plays by the defense.

Zuzak (ND) started for the Ducks, pitching five strong innings before giving way to the bullpen who held on for the win. Pat Dipaola pitched two innings in relief for the win (1-1).

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Game 2 Recap:

Pat DiPaola won his second game of the day and Jon Moore pitched a scoreless one and two thirds innings for the save, as South Oakland out-hit West View to advance to the loser’s bracket final.

With two outs in the second, Moore walked and Nichols singled. Then Casale singled in a run, Gwin singled in a run, and Morgan doubled in two. 4-0 Ducks with two out and a man on second. Chartier singled in Morgan. 5-0 Ducks. Then Koshzow singled and Graff hit a two run double and was thrown out on a close play at third.

7-0 Ducks going into the bottom of the second.

spy duck

We kicked it around a little, and West View took advantage. They scored three unearned, five total, on two errors and a couple clutch hits.

7-5 Ducks after two.

In the third, offensive force, Ben Sorosy scored on a past ball, and Gwin drove in two runs with a single to right. Our defense kept West View off the board in the bottom half of the inning. No one scored in the fourth. West View scored two in the fifth.

10-7 Ducks after five. After a single, a fielder’s choice, an error and a triple lead to a Westview run, Jon Moore took the mound for the Ducks.

One out, Ducks up 10-8 with runners on second and third. Moore struck out the first batter he faced, walked a guy, then struck out another batter with the bases loaded to end the threat.

10-8 Ducks after six.

Gwin singled in two runs in the seventh to give the Ducks some breathing room.

In the bottom of the seventh, Moore closed the coffin on West View’s season, retiring the side in order.

Ducks win. 12-8.

undertaker ducks.gif

I’d like to thank all the Ducks fans who came out to support our team, and the West View fans who came out to yell stuff at our team. What a great atmosphere. It felt really good to eliminate that team.

Doc_Brown

In defeating the Eagles and WOLFPACK!!! yesterday, the Ducks beat the two teams who eliminated them in the previous two playoff campaigns. South Side eliminated South Oakland in the 2015 play-in game. West View defeated the Ducks in the 2014 semifinals.

quack.

 

Ducks Lose. Elimination Game Set For Next Saturday *UPDATED

2016 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, Recap, South Oakland Ducks Baseball, who names their team the Rebels?

The Eagles lost to Shaler Tuesday night. The South Oakland Ducks will play the South Side Eagles on Saturday. Time and place TBD.

Oilers vs. WOLFPACK was rained out and rescheduled for Wednesday night. The winner will play Shaler in the winner’s bracket final on Saturday.

steel cage match hebre oilers

As noted previously:

Cranberry beat the Express in the other play-in game and then lost to Shaler.

Cranberry will play the loser of Wednesday night’s game between West View and the Oilers, next weekend.

Here’s an updated bracket for reference.
UPDATED_BRACKET.png

Round 1 Recap:

The Hebrew Oilers defeated the South Oakland Ducks 5-3 at Springview Field yesterday. Despite solo home runs from Koshzow and Chartier, South Oakland fell short in their opening round playoff game, leaving eight men on base.

Strom made a great diving catch in right field.

The Ducks led 2-1 going into the third, but the Oilers scored three runs and added one in the sixth. Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh, South Oakland scored a run to bring the game to 5-3, and had the winning run at the plate before a game-ending fly out.

We had a lot of hard hit outs, and wasted some opportunities. This was a tough one to lose, but the Oilers deserve credit for making the plays and not allowing us to extend innings. We had good enough pitching to win this game. Nothing would fall for us, and they hit it in the gaps. They made a couple errors but we didn’t capitalize.

 

Ducks Win. 4th Seed Likely Clinched.

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

The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side defeated the Carrick Express 5-2 in Carrick last night. Chuck Zuzak (W, 5-2) pitched a complete game for the victory, and Erik Tuomisto drove in 2 runs in his final game as a Duck. The win moves the Ducks (12-11) into a tie for fourth place with the Oilers (11-10-2). Carrick falls to 8-13-1 with the loss.

The Ducks scored a run in the first after Chartier singled to left and moved Gwin to third. Gwin scored on a throwing error on an attempted pickoff.

In the top of the second inning, Tuomisto drove in a run on a bases loaded sac-fly and the Ducks scored again on two-out single by Morgan to make the score 3-0.

Carrick scored in the bottom half of the inning to close the gap to 3-1.

The Ducks added a run in the 5th on an RBI double by Tuomisto. Carrick scored in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 4-2, but the Ducks added another run in the 7th on a sac bunt and a throwing error that allowed Casale to score all the way from from first.

 

Thursday Night

Other stuff:

  • Zuzak worked out of a bases loaded, no outs jam in the second inning.
  • Lonnie Petril made a great catch down the line in right to save a run in the third.
  • In the bottom of the sixth, with two outs and the tying run on second, an Express player tried to steal home and was thrown out. Great poise by Chuck to calmly step off and throw him out.
  • Ducks right fielder, Brian Strom went 2-for-2 with a double and a walk in his return from the disabled list.
  • We recorded a season high 2 sac bunts in the game.
  • Joe Graff and Andrew McCray each recorded a HBP.
  • We definitely have hit harder throwers better this season. We beat Carrick’s ace, and swept the season series against a solid opponent.

ducks invade

An Oilers loss in their suspended game against the Rebels (Shaler is up big going into the bottom of the 4th) or a Ducks win vs. West View on Sunday, will clinch a first round bye for the Ducks.

Ducks first baseman, Erik Tuomisto is moving. He finishes his career with a .500 batting average and leads the team in RBI over the last two seasons. He will be missed.

South Oakland finishes the regular season Sunday night against West View.

quack

 

 

 

Ducks Lose.

2016 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA

South Oakland dropped to 11-10 on the season with a 7-2 loss to Cranberry (8-12-2).

Their shortstop hit two, two-run home runs. We made their pitcher look like Bob Gibson. We got a good start from Chuck other than those two bad pitches.

We did, however, look great in our throwbacks. So did Germani (sic).

We are a game behind the Eagles for second, but only half a game out of fifth and Shaler has like ten games in hand that they have to make up.

We are 3-5 agains the two teams with the worst records in the league. It’s confusing.

We have three games left. We need our players to show up and win a couple so we can avoid the play-in game and head into the playoffs with some momentum.

Next game is vs. Shaler, next Wednesday, 9PM at Springview Field.

quack.

 

Gameday 21: Ducks vs. Cranberry

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

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (11-9)

vs

Cranberry (7-12-2)

9PM

Springview Field

Tonight is throwback night in Spring Hill. The Ducks will wear uniforms representing teams across 14 seasons of the Pittsburgh NABA. I think Cranberry might breakout their inaugural 2010 unis for the event as well.

The Ducks look to bounce back from a bad loss in Shaler Monday night. Cranberry has an impressive two ties on the season.

There’s a log-jam in the 2-6 spots in the standings. We’ve got to get a couple wins down the stretch here and we tend to play better at home.

I haven’t seen our best hitter in like a month, but we have a lot of guys who can step in and contribute.

bad news bears

Bad News for Cranberry

 

 

Ducks Lose. Rebels 13, Ducks 3

2016 South Oakland Ducks

bane

Rebels pitcher Rob Bane pitched a complete game and also hit a solo homer, leading the Rebels to a 13-3 rout of the Ducks in Shaler.

South Oakland sent eight batters to the plate in the first, but could only get one run across then Shaler scored 8 in the second and it was basically over.

Our starter didn’t have his stuff, and the plate ump wasn’t great and it all compounded into an ass kicking. Hats off to the Rebels. We will have a better effort for them when we face them again in a week.

South Oakland drops to 11-9 on the season. The Rebels improved to 9-8 with the win.

South Oakland’s next game is Wednesday vs. Cranberry. 9PM at Springview Field.

 

Gameday 20: Ducks at Rebels

2016 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball, who names their team the Rebels?

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (11-8)

at

Shaler Rebels (8-8)

6pm

Stoneridge Field

We lost to these guys in 9 innings the first time we played them, so it should be another close game. The standings are real close 2 through 5, and we have chance to get some breathing room between us and Shaler with a win. Good luck getting across town at rush hour.

Doc’s on the hill tonight.

Ducks Win

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

Chris Heisler pitched a complete game for the win, and South Oakland scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to beat the Express in another one-run game.

The Express scored a run in the top of the second, and the Ducks trailed 1-0 for most of the game. In the sixth, Gwin scored on a fielders choice, and then Moore singled and scored from first on McCray’s RBI double. Greundl pitched well for Carrick in the loss.

We still need to reschedule a rain out vs. the Express. We’ve beaten them 4-3, 3-2, and 2-1. So the next game will probably be 14-12.

duck water gif

South Oakland’s next game is Monday, 6pm at Shaler during the worst time slot in the league.

quack

Gameday 18: Ducks vs. Express

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

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side

vs.

Carrick Express

6PM

Springview Field

The Ducks look to bounce back after a tough loss at the hands of the Devils and get back into the thick of the division race today.

This is only the second non-night game we’ve played at Springview. It will be a whole different experience, I’m’ sure.

We have won two, one-run games against Carick this season so it figures to be another close one tonight. A win will give us the season series win and the first playoff tie-breaker over the Express. With the standings as close as they are, tie-breakers are likely going to figure in to playoff seeding and avoiding the play-in game is huge.

Injury update: Pittsburgh NABA all-time leader in hit batsmen and current Ducks RBI leader, Brian Strom, is out indefinitely with what appears to be a dislocated thumb. He made a diving catch last game in the second inning, popped his thumb back in and finished the game.

Strom will be with us in spirit.

KellyLeak_cig

 Bad News for the Express

 

 

Ducks Lose. plus bonus coverage of near brawl in WOLFPACK vs. Oilers

2016 South Oakland Ducks, NABA, pittsburgh NABA

We’ve now lost 3 times to the 6-11 Devils. Our record is 10-8. We were flat after a big win over the Oilers on Tuesday and made a bunch of errors. We are probably the only reason the Devils haven’t folded, so I guess it’s good for the league that we’ve struggled against them.

We play the Express this Saturday, 6pm at Spring Hill.

ducks baseball

Despite the loss to the last place Devils last night, we are still 1.5 out of first thanks to BIG OIL drilling the WOLFPACK 4-0 last night in West View

Sources close to the Ducks report that the game got out of hand when a Wolfpack player tried to take out the Oilers’ three-hitter with an elbow to the face during a rundown. Not a hard slide, but an elbow to the face.

Oilers pitcher Dan Rueff shut down West View, throwing a one-hitter through 5 innings. When Rueff came to bad later in the game, the West View pitcher threw at his head.

There was a bizarre report of the WOLFPACK coach using stall tactics that don’t even make sense, regarding cars parked in center field. This shit is too weird to make up.

I’m not a gracious loser, but what an embarrassment.

For the five of you who still read the blog, You can now comment without creating an  account with a fake email address. So go ahead and comment like it’s blogspot 2009.

quack.