Oakland Ballers clinch second-half title, earn homefield advantage for playoffs

A day after becoming the Pioneer League’s second-half champions, the Oakland Ballers finished their inaugural regular season Sunday with an otherwise meaningless 5-1 loss to the Yolo High Rollers in Davis on Sunday.

The Ballers, whose 31-17 overall record in the second half was tops in the 12-team Pioneer League, will be back in Davis on Tuesday to face the High Rollers again in Game 1 of the best-of-3 first-round playoff series.

After Tripp Clark’s first-inning grand slam set the tone Saturday for the Ballers’ second-half title-clinching 9-5 victory, Oakland was held to just three hits during its loss Sunday. Former University of San Francisco right-hander Jonah Jenkins (1-0) held Oakland to one run in 5 2/3 innings in just his second outing this year.

The top two teams in the standings in the first half and the top two squads in the second half each earned one of the league’s four postseason berths.

In the second half of the season, Yolo finished one game behind the resurgent Ballers, who earned homefield advantage by winning five more games this season than the High Rollers. Thus, Oakland will host Game 2 on Thursday and, if necessary, Game 3 on Friday at Oakland’s venerable Raimondi Field.

The Oakland vs. Yolo series winner will play for the league title against the winner of the other series – an all-Montana showdown — between the Missoula PaddleHeads and the Glacier Range Riders, the top two first-half finishers.