June 29, 2018 Healdsburg, CA Ryan Shreve (Pacific) struck out five and faced the minimum 15 batters in his five innings of work, Jared Noonan (UC Riverside) struck out nine batters in four innings, and Dane Tofteland (Indiana St) and Sam Wezniak (Cal) both homered in the eighth inning to lead the Healdsburg Prune Packers to a 4-1 win over the Academy Barons in the first game of a doubleheader today at Recreation Park. Shreve's start was as economical as it was dominant. He used only 55 pitches to complete five innings, 43 of which were strikes, and he retired nearly half of the batters he faced on three or less pitches. The only blemish of his outing was a one-out single by Christian Lucio (Eastern Kentucky) in the first inning, but Lucio was caught stealing and Shreve went on to retire the next 13 batters out in order. Noonan relieved Shreve in the sixth and turned in an impressive outing of his own, even moreso considering the first batter he faced, Bruce Martin (Stetson), welcomed him to the game with a solo home run to lead off inning and tie the score 1-1. Obviously, that didn't sit well with Noonan. After the home run he struck out the next two batters and, when the sixth inning ended with a Barons runner, who had walked to get on base, was caught stealing, Noonan struck out three straight in the seventh, one in the eighth and three more in the ninth to close out the win. While Noonan was dominant against the Barons' hitters, Joshua Stephens (Beaufort) was equally as effective, for a while. Entering the game in the fifth inning in relief of Academy starting pitcher Nikelle Galatas (Jackson St), who struck out six in four innings of work, Stephens retired nine straight to start his outing, one out coming when a runner was picked off third base. Things turned quickly the second time through the Healdsburg lineup, however, as Tofteland led off the eighth inning with a solo home run and, with two outs, Wezniak hit a two-run home run to post the final 4-1 score. Healdsburg scored its first run of the game in the fourth inning when the leadoff hitter reached on an error and eventually scored on Aidan Negal two-out RBI-single. Ben Sanderson (UCSB) hit a double and two singles to finish with a game-high three hits. Click here for recaps of this game Elsewhere in the CCL today: La Mirada, CA The Southern California Catch chased down the Arroyo Seco Saints, scoring unearned runs in each of their last two at bats to win 3-2 today at Biola Univeristy. Trailing for most of the game after Drew Cowley (Cal Poly Pomona) doubled and scored and John Thomas (USC) reached on an error and scored in the second inning for Arroyo Seco, the Catch took advantage of two two-out walks and a Jacob Rogers (UNLV) single to load the bases in the seventh inning and scored the tying run on an error. Then, in the bottom of the eighth inning, Jake Boone (Princeton) reached base on a fielder's choice and, after advancing to third on a walk and a Grant Robbins (UNLV) single, scored on another error with the go-ahead run. Anthony Mayorga, who came in to pitch the ninth inning for the Catch in relief of Deylen Miley (Tiffin), who struck out four in his two innings of scoreless relief, struck out two in a scoreless ninth to secure the win. Cowley, added two singles to finish with a game-high three hits for Arroyo Seco, and Boone, Rogers and Daniel Jung (Notre Dame), two singles apiece, were the only other players with multiple-hit games. Tayt Smith (Azusa Pacific) pitched three hitless, scoreless innings for the Catch in relief of starter Hayden Jorgenson (Azusa Pacific), who went the first three, before turning the pitching duties over to Miley and Mayorga. Click here for recaps of this game Fullerton, CA Drew Sims (Utah Valley) hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie, and Justin Friedman and John Vergara combined for ten strikeouts to lead the Conejo Oaks to a 5-1 win over the Orange County Riptide today a Fullerton College. With the score tied after Landon Gray (Tennessee) hit a solo home run for the Riptide in the third inning, and Tanner Wright (Cal Lu) singled and scored on a Brandon Lewis (UC Irvine) double in the fifth, Sims' go-ahead homer followed a lead off walk to Lewis, a wild pitch that advanced Lewis to second and one-out intentional walk of Chase Cockrell (Ole Miss) that setup a potential inning-ending double play. Late in a tie-game, the intentional walk is the sensible baseball strategy. But, on the second pitch he saw, Sims thwarted that strategy and put the Oaks ahead 4-1, and, in the ninth, Elijah Alexander (Rio Grande Valley) singled and eventually scored on an error to post the final 5-1. Friedman started on the mound for Conejo and retired the first eight batters he faced in order, half via strikeouts, before Gray's home run put the Oaks behind. For the next five-plus innings he pitched around five hits and two walks waiting on his offense to, first, tie the score and then take the lead before handing the ball to Vergara with one out in the eighth. Vergara struck out the last out of the eighth inning and struck out three more in the ninth to close out the win. Bryce Verplank (Texas) started on the mound for Orange County and pitched three-and-a-third scoreless innings with three strikeouts, and Tyler Frazier (Oregon) notched four strikeouts in two innings of scoreless relief to highlight the Riptide pitching. Lewis added two singles to go with his double to finish with a game-high three hits. Click here for recaps of this game