Baseball
Blues Capitalize on Free Baserunners; Pitchers Again Dominate for Santa Barbara

| June 21, 2019

June 21, 2019 San Luis Obispo, CA The San Luis Obispo Blues rallied for three runs in third inning, taking advantage of two hit batters, and scored twice in the fifth, taking advantage of another hit batter and a walk to beat the Orange County Riptide 5-4 tonight at Sinsheimer Park. Four of the five batters who reached base in those innings without the benefit of hit ended up scoring, and the fifth was thrown out at the plate. The first rally happened with the Blues trailing 2-0 after the Riptide scored once in the first inning when Carson Matthews (BYU) walked to lead off the game, stole two bases and scored on a Dylan Rock (UTSA) single, and once in the second inning on three consecutive singles by Connor Aoki (Binghamton), Daniel Jung (Notre Dame) and Antonio Cruz (Rice) before an out was recorded. Gabe Constantine (Rio Grande Vly) who started on the mound for San Luis and surrendered both early runs, escaped further damage in the second inning by striking out one and getting two groundball outs, and then retired the side in order in the third while waiting for some run support. The support came in the Blues' next at bat when the first two batters reached base via a hit batter and a single. Duke Pahukoa (UNLV) then hit an RBI-single to drive in the Blues first run, the second hit batter of the inning loaded the bases and then two sacrifice flies gave San Luis a 3-2 lead. The Blues padded their lead in the fifth inning when the first two batters of the inning reached base via a walk and a hit batter and, after a passed ball advanced the runners to second and third, both would score, the first on an RBI-single by Ryan Cole (Notre Dame) and the second as part of a first-and-third double steal. Orange County scored two times in the sixth inning to get within one, plating once on an error and once on a two-out RBI-single by Chad Crosbie (Miami). Brett Super (Pitzer College), who relieved Constantine to start the fourth inning, struck out the final batter of the sixth to limit the Riptide rally and finished with five strikeouts in three innings, before turning the pitching duties over to Evan Ingram (Hendrix) who pitched around a double in the seventh by striking out the side, and then to Noah Bullard (Ventura JC) who pitched around a double in the eighth to retire six of the seven batters he faced to close out the Blues win. Nick Jones (Georgia Southern) started on the mound for Orange County and suffered the loss, allowing three runs on two hits, while striking out three and allowing five walks in two and a third innings. Wesley Scott (Vanderbilt) relieved Jones and struck out four over two and two-thirds innings while Sean Higgins (Columbia) struck out three over three scoreless innings. Click here for recaps of this game Elsewhere around the CCL tonight: Santa Barbara, CA Four pitchers threw eight scoreless innings and struck out a combined 14 batters to lead the Santa Barbara Foresters to a 6-3 win over the Academy Barons tonight at Pershing Park. Brett Walker (Oregon) was the starting pitcher for Santa Barbara tonight and struck out six over five innings of work. He retired the first seven batters he faced, four via strikeouts, and was given three runs of support when the Foresters scored once in their first at bat on three consecutive two-singles by Quentin Selma (Cal), Nick Bellafronto (Stanford) and Jacob Katzfey (Wichita State), and twice in the second inning on a walk, an error and singles by Tommy Holguin (SBCC) and Ryan Cash (Oral Roberts), all with one out. JP Massey (Minnesota), who started on the mound for the Academy and struck out the leadoff batter in the second, limited the damage in the inning by striking out the next two batters after Cash's hit. Trevor Sutt (Long Beach JC) relieved Massey to start the third inning and, after striking out the side in the third and pitching out of a jam in the fourth, Sutt surrendered three runs in the fifth on four hits, including Katzfey's second run-scoring single of the game which gave Santa Barbara a 6-3 lead. From that point forward it was pitching dominance for both teams. Hunter Breault (Oregon) was the first reliever in for the Foresters and retired all six batters he faced, including striking out three in the seventh inning, while Elijah Pleasants retired six of the seven batters he faced, two by strikeout, in relief of Sutt. Brad Demco pitched around a leadoff walk and retired the next three batters, two by strikeout, in the eighth inning for Santa Barbara and David Appleby (Michigan) followed suit, striking out two of the three batters he faced for the Barons. Drake Greenwood (Rice) then closed out the win for the Foresters with three strikeouts in the ninth. Click here for recaps of this game Healdsburg, CA A week away from CCL play didn't seem to hinder the play of the Healdsburg Prune Packers tonight as their offense strung together twelve runs on 15 hits on their way to an 12-5 win over the Solano Mudcats at Recreation Park. Eight of the nine hitters in the Healdsburg lineup tonight collected hits, five of which recorded multiple-hit games, and those same eight all scored runs, four of the them multiple times. John Lagattuta (Cal) hit a three-run home run and posted a game-high four RBI, Logan Douglas (Santa Rosa JC) singled and hit a solo home run, Jason Dicochea (Santa Clara) had three hits, including a triple, and Bryan Sturges (UTSA) had three hits and scored twice to lead the Packers attack. Solano got the early lead by scoring twice in the top of the first inning on an RBI-double by Jack Pridy (Sonoma St) and a run-scoring groundball, but that didn't last long as Healdsburg scored twice in their half of the inning on an RBI-single by Sturges and an error. Douglas' home run in the second inning gave just as brief a lead to Healdsburg as it was matched by a Solano solo home run hit in the third by Pridy and, then, when the Mudcats took a two-run lead by scoring a run in the fourth on a double by Wellington Balsley (Solano JC) and a run in the fifth on a run-scoring single by Christian Harkey (Savannah St), Healdsburg answered back again by scoring on a Blake McDonald RBI-single in the fifth and an error in the sixth to tie the score 5-5. Healdsburg erupted for four runs in the seventh inning when Bryson Hill (Houston) hit an RBI-single in front of Lagattuta's home run, and three runs in the eighth on a wild pitch, an RBI-groundball and Lagattuta's fourth RBI of the game put the game away. Jackson Cunningham (CSUN) pitched two scoreless innings after Healdsburg took the lead and Devin Kirby pitched a scoreless ninth inning to secure the Packers victory. Click here for recaps of this game Pasadena, CA Nickolas Pagan (Hartford) hit a three-run home run, Jamie Robertson (Emory) pitched four and two-thirds innings of stellar relief and David Reyna (Ark-Monticello) hit a three-run triple to lead the Arroyo Seco Saints to an 11-5 win over the Conejo Oaks tonight at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Pagan's home run, which followed an Andy Garriola (Old Dominion) RBI-single in the first inning, gave the Saints a seemingly comfortable early 4-0 lead, but it wouldn't hold up. It wasn't until Reyna's triple in the eighth inning, which was followed by RBI-singles by Anthony Forte (Richmond) and Drew Cowley (Cal Poly Pomona), that the outcome of the game was decided. Conejo's starting pitcher, Eric Ma (Whitman College), after allowing the four first inning runs, retired the side in order over the next two innings as the Oaks' offense started scoring. Conejo generated two runs in the second inning on three hits, including a RBI-single by Zach Kaminkow (West Texas A&M), and a wild pitch, and three runs in a wild fourth inning in which three batters walked with the bases loaded and three batters struck out, two with the bases loaded, to take the lead 5-4. Chris Burnette (Cal Poly Pomona), who issued the last two walks and struck out the last two outs of the wild fourth inning for the Saints, recorded one out in the fifth but walked two more before Robertson entered the game and proceeded to dominate. Robertson retired 14 of the last 15 Oaks batters, three by strikeouts, to earn the win in relief for Arroyo Seco as he was on the mound when the Saints tied the game in the seventh inning when Forte doubled with one out and scored on a Thomas Luevano (USD) two-out single, and was the pitcher of record when the Saints took over the lead on Reyna's home run. Click here for recaps of this game
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