Coast Continue Series Winning Streak to Five
OAKLAND, CA – The Long Beach Coast (21-6) took the rubber match over the Oakland Ballers (12-15) on Thursday night, marking their fifth consecutive series victory.
June 18, 2026
OAKLAND, CA – The Long Beach Coast (21-6) took the rubber match over the Oakland Ballers (12-15) on Thursday night, marking their fifth consecutive series victory.
Coast starter Nick Bautista faced his former team that he began the season with. Bautista allowed the Ballers to take the first lead of the game on an RBI double by catcher Jaden Collura, but the Coast began an uproar of offense the very next half inning.
Long Beach second baseman Jacob Jablonski hit the initial go-ahead home run in the top of the second, his fourth at Raimondi Park and his seventh on the season.
Following the initial 1-0 Ballers lead after the first, the Coast scored in every inning from the second through the seventh, outscoring the Ballers 12-4 in those five frames alone. The Long Beach offense hit four of the nine home runs they finished the three-game series with on Thursday night.
One of the four big flies left the bat of designated hitter Derek Laferriere in the top of the fifth, tagging his first professional dinger and scoring three runs in the process.
Ballers first baseman Jeter Ybarra had his second multi-home run game of the series, chalking up five total in the three games to add on to his league-leading 14 homers. Ybarra accounted for three of his team’s total eight runs on the night, including his final two-run home run in the ninth off of Coast southpaw Jake Dixon that put Oakland within four runs.
The large Coast lead that began in the second inning proved to be insurmountable for the Ballers, losing back-to-back games at the backend of the three-game midweek series.
The 12-8 Coast win kept the Southern California expansion team a half game behind the first-place Billings Mustangs (21-5). Bautista (3-1) earned his first win since June 5, while Ballers starter Aidan Risse (1-3) received his second consecutive loss.
The Long Beach Coast will return to Blair Field on Friday night to finish the fifth week of the 2026 season with another three-game series against the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds. The first game will be the sixth Regulators alternate identity night, with the Beach Ball Pregame Show starting at 6:15 PM PDT on HomeTeam Network and first pitch at 6:35 PM.
Joey Miller
