First Series Recap
Recapping the Ballers’ First Series Against the Missoula Paddleheads
By Nick Clementi
photos by Maximum Effort Photos
The Oakland Ballers kicked off their 2026 season as defending Pioneer League champions, returning home to Raimondi Park on Tuesday night to begin a 3-game set with the Missoula Paddleheads. The Ballers gave returning starting pitcher Gabe Tanner the honors of toeing the rubber on opening night, following a dominant debut season last year.
In just the third year of B’s baseball at Raimondi, there was a palpable buzz to see this hometown team get to work defending their championship. Coming off their record-setting year in 2025, the Ballers enter the new season with quite the target on their backs, and the Paddleheads came to town with intentions to spoil the party.
In the first game, Tanner escaped a bases loaded jam in the first allowing just one run, but Missoula kept the damage coming. Catcher Nich Klemp hit a pair of two-run home runs in the third and fourth innings, along with a solo home run from Will Bermudez. Through four innings, the Ballers suddenly found themselves trailing 6-0 and made a move to the bullpen. Open tryout signee David Clarke made his PBL debut and could have easily thrown two scoreless innings if a seeing-eye groundball didn’t find a hole. Offensively, Oakland would get on the board in the fourth inning, with San Jose native Jeter Ybarra and returning third baseman Jake Allgeyer hitting back to back solo home runs. Unfortunately for the Ballers, this would be the only runs they’d score, with Missoula’s bullpen combining for 4 ⅓ scoreless innings. In front of a record crowd of 4,135 at Raimondi Park, the Paddleheads would take game 1 of the season and series by an 11-2 margin.
The following day the Ballers continued their opening week celebrations with a pregame ring ceremony featuring returning members of the 2025 Ballers team. In front of another energetic and impressive fan showing, which GM Laura Geist confirmed as their largest second-game crowd ever, Oakland looked to even the series against Missoula with Aidan Risse making his PBL debut. Tremayne Cobb was driven home in the first inning by a Ybarra groundout, giving the Ballers an early 1-0 lead. That lead would quickly vanish, as Missoula once again jumped on Oakland’s starting pitching. Outfielder Enzo Apodaca hit a two-run home run in the second inning, scoring Xavier Casserilla. Risse ran into more trouble in the third, allowing two singles and a walk to set up Missoula with a golden opportunity to strike. A double play temporarily limited the damage to one run, before a Casserilla double and another Apodaca home run blew the game open. Trailing 6-1 in the third, walks by T.J. McKenzie and Jacoby Long opened the door for Oakland. Ybarra then singled home McKenzie, putting runners on the corners. Up to the plate came Noah Blythe, in just his second game as a Baller. After battling to a 3-2 count, Blythe sent a fastball deep to dead center, landing near the putting green long past the center field wall. This home run cut Missoula’s lead to just a run, giving Blythe his first home run as a Baller.
Despite arriving on the final day of camp as a last-minute signee for the Ballers, Blythe was ready for the moment. “I was just happy to contribute to the team there in that situation,” Blythe said. “I was hoping to just put one across with maybe a fly ball but I got a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it.”
Former Twins farmhand Liam Rocha would relieve Risse after three and immediately find trouble of his own. After striking out Leyton Barry to start the inning, two walks would come back to haunt Rocha. A single by the red-hot Klemp and an unfortunate throwing error by Ybarra extended the Paddleheads’ lead to three. McKenzie responded in the bottom half of the fourth, hammering a 3-2 breaking ball over the left field wall to make it an 8-6 ballgame. Oakland looked to further capitalize on Missoula’s relief pitching that was in for a long night after their starting pitcher Jaren Jackson only lasted 2 ⅓ innings. After a walk by Blythe and a double by Jaden Sheppard, Allgeyer grounded out to cut the lead back to one run. Then came a wild pitch to tie the game, followed by two walks. Missoula went back to the bullpen, bringing in Parker McMan to face McKenzie. After another long battle to a full count, McKenzie ripped an inside fastball inches over the left field wall, giving Oakland the 11-8 lead on three-run home run. Rocha allowed no runs in the 5th and 6th, before Langston Burkett would enter the game to make his PBL debut. Burkett struck out a batter in a shutdown inning to start the 7th. A 2-out walk by catcher Nick Poss in the bottom of the 7th gave McKenzie a chance at history. Two pitches later, he sent a fastball into the Ballers bullpen for an opposite field home run, his third home run of the night.
“I think the best part of last night was just getting that first win under our belt,” McKenzie said, “especially after the ring ceremony celebrating last year.”
Burkett pitched another scoreless inning before handing the ball over to Brayden Nelson, who returned to the Ballers after being on the inaugural 2024 team. Nelson’s 9th was interrupted briefly for sprinklers going off on the field, but it was not enough to save Missoula’s night. The Ballers took game two of the series by a final of 13-8.
In the rubber match of the series, the Ballers sent Nick Bautista to the mound to face Ryan Wentz and the Paddleheads. Too $hort bobblehead night and a first pitch from NBA Hall of Famer Gary Payton created early energy at the ballpark, but the Paddleheads’ bats quickly invited an eerie familiar feeling. Bautista, making his Ballers debut, ran into trouble in the first. After allowing a pair of base runners, Missoula’s Tyler Stone drove in Klemp and Michael Koszewski to make it a 2-0 ballgame. Bautista would find more trouble in the second, walking two batters and allowing two runs via an RBI triple and RBI single. A 4-0 lead was more than enough for the Paddleheads’ starting pitcher Wentz, who mowed down the Oakland hitters en route to an eight strikeout performance over five scoreless frames. Left-handed pitcher Campbell Spradling made his Ballers debut in the third inning to relieve Bautista, who proceeded to throw 2 ⅔ scoreless innings. David Clarke was brought into the game in the sixth and things began to unravel. Clarke would get an out to start the inning, but the next batter would reach after Clarke ran to cover first on a groundball and failed to touch the bag. Two more singles and a home run later and it was suddenly an 8-0 ballgame.
At the very least, the Ballers would not get shut out. An RBI walk by Cobb in the seventh, a Ybarra run on a wild pitch in the eighth, and a two-run home run by Esai Santos in the ninth gave Oakland their only runs of the night. Missoula tacked on four more in the ninth and took the season opening series with a game three win of 12-4.
Next: the new league addition Long Beach Coast arrive. Check out our preview of the Coast here.
Nick Clementi is an Oakland native and lifelong Oakland baseball fan. He enjoys long walks on the beach and summer nights at Raimondi Park. He’s a Scrappy enthusiast who doesn't believe in sacrifice bunts. Sports content moderator by day, Ballers beat writer by night. Find him on Instagram and Twitter.
