Gameday 16: Ducks Vs. Express

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

South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (8-7)

vs.

Carrick Express (6-7)

9pm

Springview Field

Big game tonight as the Ducks try to gain ground on the WOLFPACK and keep pace with BIG OIL and a resurgent Eagles team.

The standings are tighter than traffic on Sawmill Run Blvd.

A win puts us in a tie for second with the Oilers, and a loss drops us back into a three-way tie for fourth with the Express and Rebels, both of whom would have games in-hand.

We beat Carrick earlier this season on an Andy Nichols walk-off single. Figures to be another close one tonight.

Bad News for the Express

Depleted Ducks Split Double Header With Cranberry

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

South Oakland (8-7) won game one 3-2 over Cranberry (5-8-1) behind a complete game victory by pitcher Chuck Zuzak and timely hitting and defense. Trailing 1-0 in the fifth, Ducks utility player, Joe Graff doubled in two runs, and Chartier drove in another. Gwin was hit by a pitch in the fifth, increasing his team leading HBP count to 5. Cranberry’s second baseman made some good plays on defense. Cranberry scored a run in the sixth.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Ducks lead 3-2. Cranberry started the inning with a walk and a single by the 9 and 10 hitters to put runners on first and third with nobody out. Zuzak struck out the leadoff hitter. The next guy hit a hard grounder to third and Chartier threw the runner out at home. Then with runners on first and second and two out, the game ended on a spectacular play by shortstop Jon Moore who made a diving stop behind second base on what looked like a sure single, and flipping the ball to Sorosky at second base for the game-ending force out.

We ran out of pitching in the second game and walked a bunch of guys and started kicking the ball around. We are all old and would have benefitted from having some subs. I probably shouldn’t have rescheduled this one as a double header, but didn’t know we’d be missing everyone on a random June weekend. In game 2, Moore hit a triple, and Brandt stole home in the bottom of the seventh. Cranberry’s starting pitcher threw a magical game, hitting spots and keeping the Ducks off balance.

It’s frustrating to lose games to teams at the bottom of the standings because everyone is on vacation or whatever (two Devils losses and this one to Cranberry come to mind), but that’s part of the deal with summer league ball. These things probably even out over the course of the season. Maybe we catch a team that’s in the middle of a four games in five days stretch when they have their whole outfield one a cruise or some hipster beer sampling event, and we take advantage of it. Who knows. Every manager and every team in the league deals with it. Hopefully everyone makes the playoff games.

Big picture: We have nine games left including a game with Carrick we still have to reschedule. It’s going to be an exciting stretch run. Two big games against the Express this week. They have a worse record than their talent would indicate, possibly have struggled with attendance due to NHL playoffs.

Standings as of 6/13

2016 Playoff Bracket

Gotta avoid the play-in games.

South Oakland next plays 9PM Wednesday in Spring Hill vs. Carrick.

quack

Life in the Fast Lane: Ducks Win, 13-5. Take Season Series from South Side

2016 South Oakland Ducks, pittsburgh NABA

The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side overcame deficits of 3-0 and 5-3 to defeat the South Side Eagles by a score of 13-5.

For a while this game felt like that time you waited outside Jacks for two hours on Christmas morning until it opened at 7AM so you could drink yourself down off that coke bender and numb the pain of another lonely holiday. The Eagles were running and hitting doubles and their starter was hitting spots. Then the Ducks put together a nine-run inning off that lefty and the super-enthusiastic third baseman.

South Side lead 5-3 going into the bottom of the fifth, and then the Ducks sent fourteen batters to the plate and scored nine runs, off two different relief pitchers.

Koshzow, Morgan, Graff, and Nichols all hit doubles. Dipaola had two hits, Petril went 3-for-4 with an RBI, Brandt drew a walk and went first to third on a single by Graff and later scored. Kirk Gibson went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and 2 RBI. he scored on an error by the Eagles third baseman to tie the game at 3 in the third inning.

Gutsy efforts by Heisler and DiPaola (W, 3-1) on the mound, both pitched hurt and gave us a chance to win on a night when they didn’t have their best stuff.

With the win, the Ducks record improves to 7-6 and gives them the head-to-head tie breaker over the Eagles (8-6).

We are still right in the division race. We need to finish at least fourth to avoid the paly-in game. First or second will get us a bye to the winners bracket semi-finals in the double elimination tourney.

South Oakland has a double header against Cranberry (2-9-1) this Saturday starting at 2:30pm, game 2 immediately to follow.

quack

Back Down To .500: Ducks Lose.

2016 South Oakland Ducks

devils pittsburgh naba

The South Oakland Ducks of the North Side (6-6) lost 7-5 to the South Hills Devils (5-6) Saturday at Herschel Field. Ducks pitchers walked eleven batters over six innings and the Devils had a few timely hits.

Trailing 4-0 going into the third, South Oakland rallied and brought the score to 4-3 when Strom singled in a run and Gwin scored on an error and TJ Morgan doubled.

Gwin was later caught in a rundown and picked off trying to steal second.

The Devils added a run in the bottom of the inning, and two more insurance runs in the fifth.

In the top of the sixth, Jimmy Moore drove in a run with a solid hit-by-pitch and McCray added a sac fly to close the gap to 7-5. Moore pitched the bottom of the sixth, struck out 2 and kept the devils off the board.

South Hills held off a late South Oakland rally, and the Ducks left the tying run on second base in the top of the seventh.

This was a tough one to lose, but we played them tough without our entire starting infield.
It was good to have Limbach back.
The ump had a small zone and we weren’t as patient as we could have been in some cases. Strom got squeezed but we didn’t make their guy work as hard as we could have.
We are still right in the thick of it, at 6-6 and only 1.5 games back.
Big game against the Eagles (7-5), Wednesday night 9PM at Springview Field.

Quack

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 (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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Ducks vs. Express Rained Out

2016 South Oakland Ducks

South Oakland of the North Side was rained out on Monday.

The Ducks next game is Wednesday night, 9PM at home vs. the Devils.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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