July 7, 2016
Santa Barbara, CA
The Academy Barons scored three times in their first at bat today in Santa Barbara and that was more than enough for their pitching staff as the Barons beat the Foresters 4-2. Coming into the game the Academy trailed the Foresters by a half-game for the top spot in the CCL standings but starting pitcher Henry Omana, who pitched six innings, scattering four hits and striking out two, kept Santa Barbara at bay before turning the ball over to Oscar Munoz (two innings, no hits and three strikeouts) and Reece Buska (one run on two hits) to close the game out and vault the Academy into first place. The Barons jumped on Santa Barbara’s starting pitcher Kyle Johnston (Texas) right from the start. James Stea (Valparaiso) laced the second pitch of the game into the right-center gap for an opening triple and Ernie De la Trinidad reached base after being hit on an 0-2 pitch. Johnston got the next two hitters before allowing a RBI single by Cody De Beste (Prairie View A&M), and then the Foresters defense allowed two more runs to score, the first on an error and the next on a passed ball. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Redwood City, CA
The Walnut Creek Crawdads scored three runs in their first at bat today at Canada College but, just to show how the game would turn out, the Menlo Park Legends scored seven in theirs and go on to blowout the Crawdads 14-4. The Legends scored their seven first inning runs on four walks and four hits, the biggest of which was a two-run home run by Miguel Pimentel (Lee U), the first of his four hits in the game. Chadler Bengston (Columbia) hit a two-run home run of his own the following inning and Justin Jacobs (Gonzaga) added three hits to help lead Menlo Park’s 14-hit attack. See the boxscore/recap here.

La Mirada, CA
Jake Lochner (Missouri State) pitched six innings of shutout baseball and struck out nine as the Southern California Catch blanked the Conejo Oaks today 6-0 at Biola University. Daniel Ramirez (Mt. SAC) hit a solo home run in the fourth inning and added two singles later, and Caleb Potter (West Virginia) had two hits and two RBI to lead the Catch offense. See the boxscore/recap here.

San Luis Obispo, CA
The San Luis Obispo Blues beat the Healdsburg Prune Packers for the second night in a row, winning the series between the two teams 2-1, with a 5-4 win tonight at Sinsheimer Park. Luke Eigsti (Alabama Birmingham) had three hits and Garrett Dodd (Louisiana Tech) scored four times to lead the Blues. Jamey Smart (Loyola Marymount) had three hits in a losing cause for Healdsburg. Graham Ahlrich (Louisiana Tech) picked up the win on the mound for the Blues, pitching three innings of relief while striking out four. See the boxscore/recap here.

July 6, 2016
San Luis Obispo, CA
RJ Hassey hit a solo home run and Gene Wood (Alabama) had a pair of triples to lead the San Luis Obispo Blues to a 7-3 win over the Healdsburg Prune Packers tonight at Sinsheimer Park. Brendan Nail (Western Carolina) started on the mound for the Blues and, despite giving up three first inning runs to the Packers, pitched effectively for six innings, striking out nine, to earn the win. Parker Mushinski (Texas Tech) relieved Nail in the seventh and completely shut down the Packers offense, throwing three hitless innings while striking out six. Despite the loss, Healdsburg’s starting pitcher Steven Wilson (Santa Clara) also had a strong outing, striking out ten Blues over five innings of work. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Santa Barbara, CA
With inning run totals of three, six, four and one the Santa Barbara Foresters scored in bunches today in a 14-2 win over the Southern California Catch at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Santa Barbara’s hitters compiled 15 hits in the game, led by Dylan Paul (Texas State) and Hank LoForte (Cal St Fullerton) who each had three hits, and Tyler Adkison (San Diego State) who had a double, triple and three RBI. In all, six Forester hitters had at least two hits in the game, and four had at least two RBI. Tanner Lawson (Houston) started on the mound for Santa Barbara and picked up the win by allowing only two runs in five innings with one strikeout. Evan Sandmann’s (Dallas Baptist) solo home run to lead off the fourth inning was the bright spot for the Catch. See the boxscore/recap here.

Thousand Oaks, CA
With the score tied at 5-5 Trevor Casanova (Lane JC) led the top of the ninth inning off with a double and scored what would be the winning run on an error as the Long Beach Legends beat the Conejo Oaks 6-5 today at Sparky Anderson Field. In the bottom of the inning Legends pitcher Bryce Dydra (USC), who had given up the tying run in the eighth after coming in to pitch from the first base position where he started the game, walked the first batter of the inning to put the tying run on but got the next three hitters to earn the win. John Montgomery (Eastern Michigan) had two hits and three RBI to lead the Legends offense along with Casanova, who ended up with two hits in the game, Dydra (two hits) and Joe Van Marter (Houston Baptist), who also had two hits and scored twice. Gabe Gunter (Cal Lutheran) had two doubles and two RBI to pace the Oaks. See the boxscore/recap here.

July 4, 2016
Santa Barbara, CA
Jacob Patterson (Texas Tech) threw six shutout innings and Chad Spanberger (Arkansas) hit a two-run home run to lead the Conejo Oaks to a 6-0 win over the Santa Barbara Foresters today at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. With the win the Oaks record in league play improves to 13-7, one half-game better than Santa Barbara who falls to 13-8. More details of the game will be added as they become available. Stats coverage of CCL games is currently unavailable. See related story

July 3, 2016
Santa Barbara, CA
The Santa Barbara Foresters broke their two-game losing streak against the Neptune Beach Pearl, winning today in the final piece of the three-game series between the two teams 15-9 at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Santa Barbara broke out with 15 runs on 15 hits, scoring early and often, taking a 14-2 lead into the fifth inning. The Forester’s were paced by Hunter Williams (Tulane) who went three-for-three with two RBIs, Lex Kaplan (Tulane) who had two hits and four RBIs, Evan Cassolato (UC Irvine) two hits and two RBI, and Stephen Coe (UCSD), who had three hits and two RBI. Miles Sandum (USD) started the game and pitched five innings for the win, improving Santa Barbara’s league record to 13-7. Casey Douglas (Kansas) took the loss in a starting role for the Pearl, who fell to 9-5 in league. Tristen Hildebrandt (Cal St Fullerton) hit a solo home run and added another run-scoring hit to lead the Neptune Beach offense. Stats coverage of CCL games is currently unavailable. See related story

Also in the CCL today:
Healdsburg, CA
The Healdsburg Prune Packers beat CCL North rival Walnut Creek Crawdads 8-1 tonight at Recreation Park. Starting pitcher Andrew Vaughn (Cal) earned tonight’s win, recording eight strikeouts in five innings of work while allowing only one run. Elias Orona (Cal St Northride) had a four-for-five night at the plate, driving in three runs, and Brandon Shearer (Loyola Marymount) had two hits and an RBI to lead the Packers offense. With the win Healdsburg improves to 8-4 in league play. Walnut Creek falls to 4-12. Stats coverage of CCL games is currently unavailable. See related story

Long Beach, CA
Long Beach Legends starting pitcher Mason Perryman (USC) pitched a complete game shutout and Nathan Keavy (Loyola Marymount) provided all the offense needed with a solo home run as the Legends beat the visiting Ventura Halos in the first game of today’s doubleheader between the two teams at Long Beach City College. Ventura’s Cody Phillips (Princeton) extended his hitting streak to eight games and Adisson Pelupessy allowed only one run on five hits but it was to no avail. In the second game, Joey Notch (Long Beach State) had a three-for-four game with an RBI to lead the Legends to a 5-2 sweep of the doubleheader. Ventura’s fielders committed two errors in the bottom of the third inning that allowed three unearned runs to score for Long Beach. With the two wins Long Beach improved to 7-12 in CCL play while Ventura fell to 9-11. Stats coverage of CCL games is currently unavailable. See related story

San Luis Obispo, CA
The San Luis Obispo Blues swept the three-game series this weekend against the Menlo Park Legends, winning 6-2 tonight at Sinsheimer Park. Starting pitcher Matt Walker (UCLA) threw seven shutout innings and recorded six strikeouts to improve his record to 2-1 on the season. Blake Johnson (Alabama-Birmingham) had a three-for-four night at the plate and scored three runs, and Wyatt Hogan (Hendrix) had two hits and two RBI to lead the Blues. Menlo Park’s starting pitcher Tanner Disibio (Faulkner) suffered the loss, allowing three runs in six innings of work. San Luis Obispo improved to 7-7 in league and Menlo Park fell to 4-7. Stats coverage of CCL games is currently unavailable. See related story

July 2, 2016
Compton, CA
For the second time in three days the Academy Barons took on the US Collegiate National Team in an exhibition game, and for the second time the pitching for the National Team was nearly unhittable, and totally “unscoreable”. Just as they were Thursday at Angels Stadium, the Barons, who have been the most productive and consistent hitting team in the CCL this summer, were shutout today by the National Team 10-0 at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. Brendan McKay (Louisville) started on the mound for the National Team and set what would become the tone of the game, pitching three innings without allowing a hit and striking out three. Alex Lange (LSU), Darren McCaughan (Long Beach St), Zach Warren (Tennessee) and David Peterson (Oregon) followed in relief of McKay and matched his dominance, allowing a combined four hits with eight strikeouts. The Barons did manage a bit of a rally against McCaughan in the fifth inning with three consecutive singles by Aaron Cisneros (UC Riverside), Martin Teague (Hope Int) and Trent Hammond (Illinois), but McCaughan struck out two and got a weak grounder to keep the National Team’s scoreless inning streak alive. In the last three games and a portion of a fourth, the National Team’s pitchers have strung together a 32 inning scoreless streak which, if your rooting for the National Team as it heads overseas for matchups against Chinese-Taipei, Japan and Cuban, that’s exactly what you would want. The Barons, however, are looking forward to returning to CCL play, where they are sitting atop the league standings at 12-4, Wednesday against the Orange County Riptide. See the boxscore/recap here.

July 1, 2016
Anaheim, CA
The Conejo Oaks hitters felt what it was like to bat against the best pitchers in college baseball today, managing only one hit in a 6-0 lost to the US Collegiate National Team at Angels Stadium. Chad Spanberger’s (Arkansas) double off of J.B. Bukauskas (North Carolina) was the lone bright spot for the Oaks offense. On the other hand, Conejo’s pitchers fared a bit better. Starter Isaiah Campbell (Arkansas) went five innings and only allowed a pair of hits and one run against the best hitters in college baseball, and the next four relievers the Oaks sent out managed about the same, allowing only two more hits over the next three innings. It wasn’t until the ninth inning, with Logan Gillaspie (Oxnard JC) on the mound that the National Team broke the game open with three runs on two hits and two walks.
“It was a great atmosphere against a very talented team,” Oaks Manager David Soliz said after the game. “Going into the ninth the hit totals were three to one. We hung with them until the ninth.”
The National Team’s pitching was the story for sure tonight. Bukauskas, Tim Cate (UConn) and Tyler Johnson (North Carolina) were dominant, recording a combined 14 strikeouts.
The National Team plays its final exhibition game against the CCL tomorrow as they take on the Academy Barons at 1pm at the MLB Urban Youth Academy.

June 30, 2016
Anaheim, CA
The Academy Barons traveled to Angels Stadium in Anaheim tonight to play the US Collegiate National Team in the third of five exhibition games the US team is playing against the CCL. The Barons were held scoreless by the dominant pitching of the country’s top amateur arms, managing four hits in a 5-0 loss. The National Team’s pitchers, as they have in the previous two games against the Santa Barbara Foresters Tuesday and Wednesday are in the process of showing the National Team’s coaching staff they are ready to be part of the rotation that the squad will take to international competitions against Taiwan, Japan and Cuba. Tonight the Barons faced Alex Faedo (Florida), Ricky Tyler Thomas (Fresno State), Tyler Johnson (South Carolina), Luis Gonzalez (New Mexico) and Glenn Otto (Rice and a CCL alum of the 2015 Foresters). Combined, the five National Team pitchers struck out 12 Barons and issued no walks. Reggie Southall recorded the Barons’ first base hit, a single with two in the fourth, but, after he stole second base, he was left stranded in scoring position. Cody Den Beste (Prairie View A&M) had a leadoff single in the fourth inning, but he was later erased on a groundball double play. Sam Shaikin and Keyon Allen (UNLV) had the two other Barons hits but neither threatened to score. On the mound, the Barons gave nine different pitchers an inning each to face the country’s best hitters. As a group, the nine pitchers allowed the five runs on 12 hits, and combined for six strikeouts and five walks.

June 29, 2016
Santa Barbara, CA
Kyle Johnston (Texas) matched pitch-for-pitch with the best arms in college baseball today, and against the best hitters, shutting out the US Collegiate National Team for five innings at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium before allowing back-to-back doubles and leaving the game tied at 1-1 after six, the score that the game would finish at after ten innings. Johnston, who struck out six and walked none on the day, was masterful through the first four innings, facing the minimum 12 batters, and then magical in the fifth, when he wrangled out from runners on first and third with no outs by striking out the next two hitters and getting a weak pop up for the third out. After getting another strikeout to start the sixth inning, Johnston gave up consecutive doubles to TJ Friedl (Nevada) and Jeren Kendall (Vanderbilt) before getting two groundouts to shut down the threat. The Foresters, who were beaten by the National Team 10-6 at Dodgers Stadium the day before, captured a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning off of National Team starting pitcher Tanner Houck (Missouri) by way of a lead off home run by Hunter Williams (Tulane). Williams home run was one of only two hits allowed by Houck, who was followed on the mound by David Peterson (Oregon), who had five strikeouts in three innings of relief, J.B. Bukauskas (North Carolina) and Kyle Nelson, who was pitching on his home turf of UC Santa Barbara. In total, the Foresters managed four hits and the National Team had seven. The exhibition game, which was attended by about one hundred scouts (literally) and a packed stadium, was called during the 10th inning due to an injury.

June 28, 2016
Los Angeles, CA
In the first of two exhibition games against the top amateur team in the country, if not the world, the Santa Barbara Foresters lost to the US Collegiate National Team 10-6 today at Dodgers Stadium. The Foresters, managing eleven hits on the US team, were undone by a seven-run third inning that saw the first seven National Team hitters reach base (five singles, a home run by Jeren Kendall (Vanderbilt), and a walk) before an out was recorded. Trailing 8-0 at that point, Santa Barbara cut into the lead with three runs in the fifth inning on four consecutive singles of their own–Matt Henderson’s (Florida State) bases-loaded single driving in two–and a fielder’s choice. Dylan Paul (Texas State) would single and score a run for the Foresters in the sixth inning and Hunter Williams (Tulane) would add two sacrifice fly RBI in the seventh and ninth, both times driving in Kyle Isbel (UNLV) to finish out Santa Barbara’s scoring. Kendall and KJ Harrison (Oregon State) each had three RBI to lead the National Team which racked up 17 hits in the game, including a four-for-six day by Evan White (Kentucky). The National Team, of course, features the best amateur pitchers in the country as well. Today the Foresters faced Kyle Wright (Vanderbilt), Zach Warren (Tennessee), Ricky Tyler Thomas (Fresno State), Glenn Otto (Rice) and Tyler Johnson (South Carolina) a formidable lineup of arms for any team.
The same two teams will play an exhibition tomorrow at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium at UC Santa Barbara beginning at 5pm. The National Team will also meet the Academy Barons, 6:30pm Thursday at Angels Stadium; the Conejo Oaks, 3:30 Friday at Angels Stadium; and the Academy Barons again, 1pm Saturday at the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton

June 25, 2016
Compton, CA
The Southern California Catch bounced back from a stomach virus that had infected about half their team on a missionary trip to Mexico earlier this week and broke the Academy Barons six-game winning streak with a 7-5 win tonight at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. The Catch, which outhit the Barons tonight 10 hits to eight, a feat that hasn’t happened to the Barons since early in the season, were led by Jacob Barrick (Liberty) , a home run, double and two RBI; Evan Sandmann (Dallas Baptist), a double and three RBI; and Zach Malis (Grand Canyon), a home run and single. Martin Teague (Hope Int) continued his hot hitting for the Barons, belting a pair of home runs, giving him four on the season and a share of the league lead, and driving in his league-best 28th RBI. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also today in the CCL:
Santa Barbara, CA
The Santa Barbara Foresters racked up 10 runs in the first four innings in their matchup with the Walnut Creek Crawdads today and cruised to a 10-2 win. Bret Boswell (Texas) hit his fourth home run of the summer and three of his teammates had multiple RBI games, including Keston Hiura (UC Irvine) who had a four-for-four day with two RBI. Zach Esquivel (Rice) picked up the win on the mound for Santa Barbara, scattering four hits over six innings. See the boxscore/recap here.

Thousand Oaks, CA
The Conejo Oaks won their fourth straight league game today, 6-2 over the Ventura Halos at Sparky Anderson Field, and improved their league record to 11-5, a half-game behind the first place Academy Barons. Anthony Lepre (Canyons College (JC)) had a three-for-four day, including hitting a double and his first home run of the summer to lead the Oaks, and Kyle Sanchez (Cal) also went three-for-four. Isaiah Campbell (Arkansas) picked up the win on the mound for the Oaks, allowing one run on five hits while striking out four in six innings. See the boxscore/recap here.