Ducks win

Gameday 16: Ducks vs WOLFPACK!!!

2017 South Oakland Ducks

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (9-4-1)

vs

West View Wolfpack (6-5)

9pm

Springview Field

South Oakland of the Northside looks to extend its unbeaten streak to four games when the team hosts rival West View tonight at the Duck Pond.

West View fell victim to the 6pm weekday start time and dropped one to D2 yesterday.  The Wolfpack’s run differential suggests they should probably have a couple more wins than they do. We always play these guys tough at home. Judging by the 12 runs they allowed to D2, they should have pitching ready to go.

Making his first start for the Ducks tonight will be pitcher Mike Annerino, a man who believes in strikes.

Bad News for the Wolfpack

 

 

Ducks Win Two Straight, Set Up Rivalry Game Showdown with Oilers on Friday

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

The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (9-4) defeated Pittsburgh D2, 5-1 in Banksville on Tuesday, and notched a wild come-from-behind, 7-6 victory over the Carrick Express at Spring Hill last night.

The wins move South Oakland into sole possession of second place behind the 9-1 South Side Eagles.

Re-enactment of Mike Koshzow’s triple last night in Spring Hill

On Monday South Oakland got a gem from starter Chuck Zuzak, (W, 2-1) who threw five shutout innings. Reliever Mike Annerino took over in the sixth, and allowed one unearned run on a throwing error after what appeared to be a game-ending pickoff play in the seventh.

Zuzak worked out of a bases loaded, one-out jam in the first with a double play ball, and D2 didn’t really threaten after that. South Oakland scored two in the fourth, and added three insurance runs in the sixth.

Morgan, Dover, Pulice, Gwin and Moore had RBI for the Ducks. Casale had two hits, and is on fire since his return from the DL. Maldonado kept the Ducks’ spirits up with lots of chatter and clapping, which may have rattled the D2 starter, and somehow did not lead to a D2 throwing at him.

Wednesday’s game vs. Carrick was vintage Pittsburgh NABA. I left after trading a page of our score book for a cigarette from one of the Express players. The game itself featured questionable umpiring, ejections, multiple three-run home runs, and several lead changes.

Opportunity for alternate Express unis

Carrick jumped out to an early lead off Ducks starter Ben Sorosky, but after a four run first, Sorosky settled in, and went four innings without allowing another run. Some guy on Carrick hit a three run homer with two outs in the opening frame. Carrick was up 4-0 after one.

The Ducks battled back. Mike Koshzow hit an opposite field, three-run home run, and added an acrobatic triple later in the game.

Carrick took a 5-4 lead in the sixth.

In the bottom of the sixth, pinch hitter Chris Heisler delivered a game tying RBI double, and Andy Nichols drove in what proved to be the game winning run with a two out, two-run double later in the inning off John Smiley’s kid, who was traded to the Reds for prospects after the game.

Jon Moore entered the game and tomb stoned the Express for the four out save.

Doc pitched 1 and 2/3 in the fifth and sixth, and earned the win, I think.

By all accounts, the plate ump had a rough night. Two guys were tossed in the bottom of the seventh for arguing balls and strikes. Carrick’s manager was pissed.

Ducks outfielder Brian Strom improves his 2017 managerial record to 1-1 and somehow got fourteen different Ducks into the game.

After a rough start to their season, the Express look rejuvenated. They are going to be a tough out in the playoffs. We play them once more in Carrick.

The Brendan Chartier Memorial Spring Hill Scooter Series continues Friday at 8:30 PM when the Ducks face the Hebrew Oilers (6-4) at historic Moore Park in Brookline.

quack.

 

 

 

I Heard Something Pop. Ducks 12, D2 9

2017 South Oakland Ducks

Ducks Catcher, Tom Pulice went 4 for 4 with two doubles and 3 RBI, and starting pitcher, Ben Sorosky (W, 2-0) gutted out four innings on the mound to lead South Oakland of the North Side (6-2) past Pittsburgh D2 (0-4) last night in Spring Hill.

D2 entered the game having gone scoreless in their first three contests. They scored their first run off Sorosky in the first on a bases loaded walk.

The Ducks took an 11-2 lead after four innings. Then D2 got to South Oakland’s middle relievers for five in the fifth, and two in the sixth before Brian Strom entered the game with the tying runs on second and third with  one out in the sixth. Strom struck out some guy and got Walking in Memphis to pop out to first to end the threat.

Ducks outfielder Lonnie Petril’s hamstring exploded on an infield single. Get well, Lonnie. (Let me know if you need me to erase this for workman’s comp purposes)

Dover drove in a run in the Ducks half of the inning.

Then in the seventh:

In the seventh, Ducks closer Jon Moore retired the side in order for his first save of the season.

Notes:

Big game by Strom in his first game back. Great catch against the wall with the bases loaded in the fourth, then worked out of a jam on the mound to get us to the seventh with the lead.

Offense looks pretty good through 8 games

Good fight by D2 to take advantage of some opportunities and get back into the game after being down early. I’m surprised they have not won yet.

From The Lawnmower Man IMDB page

A scientist performs experiments involving intelligence enhancing drugs and virtual reality on a simple-minded gardener. He puts the gardener on an extensive schedule of learning, and quickly he becomes brilliant. But at this point the gardener has a few ideas of his own on how the research should continue, and the scientist begins losing control of his experiments.

Tough four game stretch coming up: Dirty Birds (Bandidos) twice, then the Oilers and Eagles. We will get a good idea of where we are at relative to the rest of the league after these games.

South Oakland’s next game is this Sunday, 9:30AM at Mellon Park vs. the Dirty Birds.

Their website makes this blog look like garbage.

quack.

Veteran Savvy. Ducks 8, Sorcerers 3

2017 South Oakland Ducks

South Oakland of the North Side defeated expansion Wexford 8-3, behind another strong outing from starting pitcher Randy Patton (W, 3-1). Patton pitched five solid innings, recording seven strikeouts, before giving way to Zuzack in the sixth. Zuzack pitched two shutout innings, striking out the last five Sorcerers he faced.

The Ducks sent nine men to the plate in the first inning, jumping out to a 5-0 lead. highlighted by a Joe Graff hbp before Matt Swetz collected his first RBI of the season with a line drive up the middle, and Sorosky drove in the ducks fifth run on a blistering ground ball to the right side.

South Oakland scored three more in the third on a Lombardi triple that drove in two runs, followed by a throwing error on a double steal that allowed him to score from third.

Despite trailing 8-0, the Sorcerers had some tricks up their sleeves as they conjured up two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth. But ultimately, they ran out of magic, falling to the Ducks in their inaugural NABA game.

Another big win without several starters

We are old

Wexford will win some games this year, and they have the best uniforms in the league

South Oakland next plays on Wednesday night, 9PM at Springview Field vs. Pittsburgh D2.

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.

 

 

 

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

 

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