League News - California Collegiate League (CCL)

July 30, 2016
Compton, CA
The Conejo Oaks and Santa Barbara Foresters advanced through the second round of the CCL playoffs today at the MLB Urban Youth Academy and will meet tomorrow at 10am to play for the 2016 CCL Championship. Santa Barbara beat the Oaks in the head-to-head meeting of the two playoff finalists 5-0, taking a direct route to the championship game as the unbeaten team, while the Oaks rebounded from their loss to the Foresters by beating the Neptune Beach Pearl 7-6 in the elimination game immediately following and will have to beat Santa Barbara twice tomorrow to claim the championship.
Starting pitcher Connor Mayes (Texas) was the story in the Foresters win over the Oaks. Mayes threw seven scoreless innings, scattering four hits while striking out seven and did not give up a walk. Ryan Shetter (Texas Tech) relieved Mayes in the eighth and finished the game just as Mayes had started it, dominantly, allowing only one runner to reach base in the final two innings to earn the save. The Santa Barbara pitchers got all the run support they would need in the second inning when Dylan Paul (Texas State) singled, stole second base and scored on a RBI-single by Bryan Bussey (Florida St). Insurance runs would follow though as Bret Boswell (Texas), who had a great game at the plate going four-for-five, doubled home a run in the third inning, Lex Kaplan (Tulane) hit a solo home run in the sixth, Boswell hit a run-scoring single and Hunter Williams (Tulane) added a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Chad Spanberger (Arkansas) and Kyle Sanchez (Cal) each had two hits to lead the Oaks offense, while Conejo’s starting pitcher Isaiah Campbell (Arkansas) had eight strikeouts in his seven innings of work but allowed all of the five Santa Barbara runs and suffered the loss. See the boxscore/recap of this game here.

The Oaks rebounded from their loss to Santa Barbara by scoring four runs in their first at bat against Neptune Beach in the elimination game. Leadoff hitter Jake Arledge (Arkansas) started things off with a double, advanced to third on a single by Sanchez and scored when a groundball by Spanberger was mishandled by the Neptune Beach shortstop. Chad Bible (San Diego St) then plated both Sanchez and Spanberger with a double and, after advancing to third on the play by way of another Pearl error, scored on a sacrifice fly by Codi Santana (Hawaii Pacific). The four-run Conejo lead was almost totally erased in Neptune Beach’s first at bat, however, as Walker Pennington (Texas A&M) drove in Clayton Andrews (Cabrillo JC), who had walked, with a single; Baylor Rowlett (Oklahoma St) drove in Tristan Hildebrandt (Cal St Fullerton), who had doubled, home from third with a groundout, and Nick Allman (Santa Barbara CC) later drove in Rowlett with an RBI-single to cut the Oaks lead to 4-3. The Pearl scored twice more in the second inning when Andrews, who had a perfect four-for-four game at the plate, hit one of his two triples to drive in one of the runs and Pennington scored Andrews with a productive groundout. The Oaks came right back to reclaim the lead for good in the third inning when Cody Farhat (Texas Tech) hit a mammoth three-run home run over the left-center wall to give Conejo a 7-5 lead. The Pearl got to within one run of tying the game in the sixth inning when Andrews scored on Rowlett single, but they squandered multiple scoring chances, including twice not taking the opportunity to score from third when the Oaks defense was not making a play to stop them and another time running into an out while trying to score on a passed ball with one out. While the starting pitching for both teams was mostly ineffective, the Oaks final two relievers Jake Sylvester (Northridge) and Robby Medel (Arizona) were up to the pressure-packed challenge of the last three innings by striking out two batters each and holding the Pearl scoreless. See the boxscore/recap of this game here.

In today’s first elimination game, played at 10am just prior to the Oaks-Foresters matchup of unbeaten teams, the Pearl and the Academy Barons, both of whom had lost their first-round games yesterday, faced off against each other to see who would advance. Barons starting pitcher Kyle Murray had a strong outing, striking out six over six innings and, after the Barons offense scored three times in the fifth inning on a solo home run by Adonis Morrison, an RBI-single by Keyon Allen (UNLV) and a run-scoring groundout by Jonah Dean-Hargroves (Jackson St), Murray left the game after allowing only one run, an Andrews RBI-single in the sixth inning, with the Barons leading 3-1. The Barons scored twice more in the top of the seventh when Zack Kolakowski (Illinois) led off with a triple and then scored on Allen’s second RBI-single, and Dean-Hargroves again drove in Allen, this time with a single, to give the Barons what seemed to be a comfortable 5-1 lead. But, immediately after Murray was lifted from the game, the Pearl took advantage of three walks and a hit batsman issued by two Academy relievers and errors by two Academy fielders to score five runs on only two hits, one by Andrew Bryniarski (Regis) and one by Pennington, and a sacrifice fly by Andrews. The Neptune Beach relievers fared much better. Theron Kay (Baylor), who entered the game in the middle of the seventh after the Barons scored twice in the inning, got the final two outs in the seventh and three more via the strikeout in the eighth without allowing a hitter on base, and Blake Peters (UC Davis) got three groundouts in the ninth to earn the save and give Neptune Beach one more game on the season. See the boxscore/recap of this game here.

The 2016 CCL Playoff format and schedule can be viewed here.

July 16, 2016
San Luis Obispo
Joe Leinhard (Oklahoma State) and Korey Anderson (Western Carolina) combined for 13 strikeouts and nine shutout innings as the San Luis Obispo Blues blanked the Southern California Catch tonight 5-0 at Sinsheimer Park. Leinhard started and earned the win on the mound for the Blues, allowing two hits while striking out nine before handing the ball to Anderson who picked up right where Leinhard left off, throwing two shutout innings and fanning four. Niko Pacheco (Cal St Fullerton) had two hits and two RBI, Wyatt Hogan (Hendrix) had two hits with one RBI, and Garrett Dodd (Louisiana Tech) had two hits, one a double, to lead the Blues, who improve their record in league play to 11-10. The Catch, who managed only four baserunners for the game, fell to 12-14. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Thousand Oaks, CA
Kyle Sanchez (Cal) had a walk-off walk with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the tenth inning, forcing home Thomas Rowan (UC Santa Barbara) with the game-winning run as the Conejo Oaks beat the Santa Barbara Foresters 4-3 today at Sparky Anderson Field. Issuing walks in the tenth inning was both a strategy and the downfall for the Foresters in the inning. With the score tied at 3-3, Santa Barbara reliever Blake Smith (Mississippi St) issued a leadoff walk to Colton Burns (UC Santa Barbara) and, during the next at bat when Smith was getting a strikeout for the first out, Burns stole second base and moved on to third on a pass ball. The Foresters then substituted a fifth infielder for one of their outfielders and intentionally walked the next two batters to set up a possible inning-ending double play. Smith did dodge the first do-or-die situation, forcing a groundout to the first baseman who recorded the force out at the plate for the second out, but in the second situation Smith walked Sanchez and the game was over. Jacob Patterson (Texas Tech) was the real pitching story of the game. The left handed pitcher, who came into relieve starter Isaiah Campbell (Arkansas) in the sixth inning, had nine strikeouts in four innings of work, but he did allow the tying run to score in the top of the ninth inning as Matt Henderson (Florida St) got to him with a two-out RBI-single. Terrell Tate (Hawaii) had a three-for-three day and drove in two runs to lead the Oaks’ offense. Hank LoForte (Cal St Fullerton) had a hit and two RBI to lead the Foresters. With the win, Conejo moves to within one game of the Central Division leading Foresters with a 15-12 record. Santa Barbara falls to 15-10. See the boxscore/recap here.

Ventura, CA
For the first time this season the Academy Barons were held scoreless as Charles Brooks (Nevada) threw a three-hit complete game (seven innings) shutout to lead the Ventura Halos to a 3-0 win over the Barons in the first half of a doubleheader today at Ventura College. Brooks worked around five walks and three hits to keep the Academy from scoring, posting three strikeouts and stranding five baserunners. Taylor Campos (Ventura College) had a two-run single in the second inning and Cody Phillips (Princeton) hit a solo home run in the fourth to give Brooks all the run support he would need. See the boxscore/recap here.

In the second game of the doubleheader, with the Barons trailing 6-3 and down to their last out, Aaron Cisneros (UC Riverside) hit a dramatic bases-loaded triple to tie the score, and Kevin Maxey (Bethesda) hit a run-scoring double in the tenth inning as the Academy edged Ventura 7-6. Prior to Cisneros’ heroics, the Halos had a big inning of their own, scoring three times in the eighth inning, two on a double by Kaleb Murphy (USC) to take a 6-3 lead. All-Star pitchers Henry Omana (Cal Poly Pomona) and Jacob Friedman both had strong starts for their teams, each recording seven strikeouts, Omana doing it over the first six innings for the Barons, Friedman doing it in five innings. Phillips had two hits to lead the Ventura offense, while three Barons had two hits apiece. See the boxscore/recap here.
The split of the two games sets the Academy’s record in league to 18-7 and the Halos at 12-16.

Irvine, CA
The Long Beach Legends and the Orange County Riptide split a doubleheader today at Concordia University, Orange County winning the first game 6-3 and Long Beach taking the second 17-4. In the opener, The Riptide scored five runs on four hits in their first at bat and got two hit performances from Dillon Kelley (Chico St) and Chase Goldwater (Mississippi St), each with an RBI, to secure the win. Trevor Casanova (Lane College) had two hits and an RBI for Long Beach. See the boxscore/recap here.
In the second game, the Long Beach offense erupted for 17 runs on 16 hits to split the doubleheader. John Montgomery (Eastern Michigan) drove in six runs on four hits, including a three-run home run in the first inning, and Casanova hit his first home run of the summer, a two-run shot in the third, and later added a double, a single, and another RBI to lead the Long Beach offense. See the boxscore/recap here. With the split, Orange County has a league record of 11-16 and Long Beach has a record of 13-16.

July 13, 2016
Compton, CA
Chad Spanberger (Conejo Oaks, Arkansas) hit a mammoth grand slam deep over the right-center field wall in the first inning of the CCL All-Star Game tonight at the MLB Urban Youth Academy as the CCL’s South All-Stars beat the CCL’s North All-Stars 10-9 in the eighth edition of the league’s midsummer showcase. Spanberger’s blast immediately brought back the memory of Tommy Bell’s (Cal Baptist) dramatic walk-off three-run homer in the ninth inning of last year’s all-star game and earned the Arkansas outfielder game MVP honors just as the game was getting started. Bell, as it happened, was also in tonight’s game, making his second straight all-star appearance as a member of the Orange County Riptide, and he came very close to matching his 2015 performance, narrowly missing a home run when he laced a ball off the top of the wall in the sixth inning.
Both all-star squads, as expected from the first half results of the 2016 season, showcased the hitters’ strength in the league this year. The 19 combined runs and 22 combined hits were both all-star bests in the eight-year history of the event. Fifity-four players played in the game which makes for a lengthy boxscore and limited opportunities to rack up big numbers. Besides Spanberger and Bell, some of the top performances in this year’s all-star game included:
Jacob Patterson (Conejo Oaks, Texas Tech) who pitched an inning and two-thirds, accounting for each of the outs in his appearance by way of strikeout (five);
Jacob Friedman (Ventura Halos) who had three strikeouts in his one inning of work;
Kaleb Murphy (Ventura Halos, USC) two hits and three RBI; and,
Renae Martinez (Neptune Beach, Oklahoma) three RBI.
Max Weinstein (Conejo Oaks, Cal Lutheran) two-for-two with two RBI.
The pitchers for the South All-Stars dominated in the strikeout category, compiling a combined total of 17 strikeouts to the North All-Stars five. Each of the eight South All-Star pitchers used the game, most of whom pitched only one inning in the showcase, had at least one strikeout.

Tonight’s game was broadcast live nationwide by Fox Sports West and DVD copies of the broadcast will be available for purchase in about a week. At this time there is no accurate boxscore for the game. We are working to get the problem resolved. We may have to wait for the DVD copy of the game and totally reenter the stats.

July 7, 2016
Santa Barbara, CA

The California Collegiate League announced the rosters of its annual all-star teams today, selecting 54 of this season’s top performers and top prospects to participate in the nationally-televised 2016 CCL All-Star Game and Prospect Showcase. The players representing the 12 CCL teams were selected by the CCL head coaches and will compete as two teams, the CCL South and the CCL North.

Kenny Landreaux (Academy Barons) and Bill Pintard (Santa Barbara Foresters) will be the head coaches of the CCL South and CCL North teams, respectively, having earned the honor by virtue of compiling the two best winning percentages in league play as of July 1.

The CCL All-Star Game will be played at the MLB Urban Youth Academy, 901 E Artesia Blvd, Compton, CA 90221. Game time is 7PM. Fox Sports West will broadcast the event live to a national audience and replay the broadcast several time regionally in July and August (check your local listings for tune-in instructions).

Online ticket shop is now closed. Please purchase tickets at the front gate. Gates open at 2:30pm.

Before the game, the 54 players will also participate in a pregame workout for scouts and college coaches. Start time for the scouting combine is 3PM.

Click here for the 2016 CCL All-Star Roster

July 5, 2016
Compton, CA
During the first month of this season the Academy Barons offense was racking up double digit hit totals and pounding teams into submission en route to the top spot in the CCL, but as the second month of the season got underway tonight at their home field it was the hitters of the Orange County Riptide that did the pounding, beating the Barons 13-4 at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. The Orange County offense racked up 18 hits against the Barons with Chris Prescott (Michigan), three hits including a home run and double; Andrew Carrillo (Chico State) three hits; Dillon Kelley (Chico State) three hits; and Griffin Barnes (Grand Canyon) three RBI, leading the way. Orange County’s pitchers had a good day too. Starter Tannery Murphey had nine strikeouts in five innings to earn the win, and three relievers Sean Wymer (TCU), Austin Boyles (TCU) and Aaron Pinto (Stoneybrook) pitched one-hit, shutout ball over the final four innings. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
San Luis Obispo, CA
Billy Wilson (Loyola Marymount) hit his fifth home run of the summer and his first triple, and his college teammate Jamey Smart (Loyola Marymount) had five hits in six at bats and four RBI to lead the Healdsburg Prune Packers to a 14-3 thrashing of the San Luis Obispo Blues tonight at Sinsheimer Park. Healdsburg’s offense, which totaled 19 hits tonight, had four hitters with three or more hits, and Wilson and Jake Sheiner (Santa Rosa JC) each scored three times as well. Jake Steffens (Santa Clara) pitched five innings in the starter’s role, earning the win while striking out four, and was followed by Alec Rennard who recorded four strikeouts in two innings of relief. Korey Anderson (Western Carolina) was saddled with the loss after allowing five runs on 11 hits in five innings, despite striking out eight. See the boxscore/recap here.

Long Beach, CA
Max Weinstein (Cal Lutheran) stayed hot at the plate, collecting three or more hits for the third consecutive game, and Chad Spanberger (Arkansas) homered for the second straight game as the Conejo Oaks beat the Long Beach Legends tonight 9-5 at Long Beach City College. Weinstein, who has 11 hits in his last 15 at bats, went three-for-five tonight with a triple and two RBI and, in total, four of the Oaks hitters had multiple hit games and seven drove in at least one run. Cody Thompson (San Diego State) started on the mound for Conejo and struck out seven in five innings. Oliver Jackson (Colorado State) had a solo home run for the Legends. See the boxscore/recap here.

La Mirada, CA
The Southern California Catch and the Ventura Halos exchanged shutouts today in a doubleheader at Biola University, the Catch winning the first game 4-0 and the Halos winning the second 3-0. Zac Filos (Riverside CC) pitched a complete game shutout (seven innings) for the Catch in the opener, scattering four hits and striking out three, and the Catch’s three runs in the first inning, on RBI singles by Caleb Potter (West Virginia) and Evan Sandmann (Dallas Baptist) and a sacrifice fly by Zach Malis (Grand Canyon) proved to be plenty enough offense. See the boxscore/recap here.
In the second game, the Catch outhit the Halos 11 to 10, but they also left more men on base, 14 to 12, as the Halos turned the table and shutout the Catch 3-0. Drew Van Winkle (Lamar) started on the mound for Ventura and pitched around eight hits in five innings to hold the Catch scoreless, stranding seven Catch baserunners in the process. Cody Phillips (Princeton), Joseph Moran (Oklahoma Baptist), Chaneng Varela (Lamar) and Adisson Pelupessy each had two hits for the Halos, while Josh Rojas (Hawaii) and Nate Pecota (William Jewel) each had three hits for the Catch. See the boxscore/recap here.

Oakland, CA
Noah Gotsis (Regis) struck out seven over six scoreless innings and his teammate from college Andrew Bryniarski (Regis) had a double and two RBI to lead the Neptune Beach Pearl to a 5-0 win over the Walnut Creek Crawdads tonight at Laney College. Both teams only managed four hits apiece for the game and only Baylor Rowlett (Oklahoma State) managed two. Rory D’Alleva-Keane (UC Santa Barbara) picked up seven strikeouts over six innings in a losing cause. See the boxscore/recap here.

July 2, 2016
Long Beach, CA
Jacob Hathaway (USF) got a two-out, two-run single off of Justin Lewis (Cornell) in the seventh inning as the Southern California Catch beat the Long Beach Legends today 2-1 at Long Beach City College. Lewis had been cruising up to that point, putting up six scoreless innings for Long Beach while striking out six, walking one and allowing only three hits. He finally got some run support in the bottom of the sixth when Trevor Casanova (Lane JC) led off with a single, stole a base and scored on a fielder’s choice. But when the Catch came up to bat in the next frame, Caleb Potter (West Virginia) led off with a single and, after a fielder’s choice, Sam Mrstik (Dallas Baptist) singled and stole a base to setup Hathaway’s two-out hit. Nick Cumpston (Eastern Kentucky) started on the mound for the Catch and allowed one run on three hits over six innings, then turned the ball over to relievers Chandler Dale (Louisville), Brandon Gilson and Nick Wernke (West Virginia) who combined to hold Long Beach hitless over the last three innings to preserve the win. With the win, the Catch improve their record to 7-8, while Long Beach falls to 5-12. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Santa Barbara, CA
For the second night in a row the Neptune Beach Pearl beat the Santa Barbara Foresters, winning 5-3 tonight at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Details of the game were not available at post time due to a program error with the stat service used in the CCL. (Teams all over the country were experiencing similar problems with the stats program). The win gives the CCL North Division leading Pearl a 9-4 record. The Foresters fall to 12-7.

San Luis Obispo, CA
For the second night in a row the San Luis Obispo Blues and the Menlo Park Legends played a one-run ballgame and for the second night in a row the Blues came out on top beating the Legends 9-8 in 12 innings at Sinsheimer Park. Details of the game were not available at post time due to a program error with the stat service used in the CCL. (Teams all over the country were experiencing similar problems with the stats program). The win gives the Blues a 6-7 record and the Legends fall to 4-6.

July 1, 2016
San Luis Obispo, CA
The San Luis Obispo Blues posted an 8-7 walk-off win over the Menlo Park Legends tonight at Sinsheimer Park, scoring the winning run without getting a hit. With one out and the score tied in the ninth inning, Garrett Dodd (Louisiana Tech) got on base as the third strike of his at bat got away from the catcher. He then stole second base, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored the winning run on a wild pitch. It was painful way to lose for the Legends who, trailing 7-3 going into the eighth inning, rallied for four runs to tie the score. The Blues had gotten to Legends starter Jacob Wilcox (UT Arlington) early, scoring seven runs on nine hits. Gene Wood (Alabama) led the Blues with three hits and three RBI, while Dodd and Blake Johnson (Alabama-Birmingham) each had two hits, Johnson’s day including a triple and two RBI. Dan Beavers (Chico State) picked up the win in relief for the Blues who improved to 6-7 in league play, while Menlo Park fell to 4-6. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also today in the CCL:
Compton, CA
Ernie De la Trinidad, who is hitting .472 overall this summer and .453 in league, had another outstanding day at the plate tonight in the Academy Barons 6-4 win over the Long Beach Legends at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. De la Trinidad went four-for-four, had a RBI and scored three times to lead the Barons offense, while teammate Martin Teague (Hope Int) the league’s RBI leader with 22 (32 overall this summer) added two hits and two RBI. It is another case of the same hitters leading a potent offense that has the Barons on top of the CCL standings with a 12-4 record. A day after the Academy used nine pitchers in their exhibition versus the US Collegiate National Team and Angels Stadium, seven were employed in tonight’s game, limiting the Long Beach batters to four hits while striking out six. John Montgomery (Eastern Michigan) did have a solo home run for the Legends. See the boxscore/recap here.

Santa Barbara,CA
In the first of a three-game series matchup of two of the three divisional leading teams in the CCL, the Neptune Beach Pearl of the CCL North division beat the Santa Barbara Foresters of the CCL Central 4-2 today at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. The Pearl, last season’s league champion, scored single runs in four different innings to earn the win and were led by three-hit performances by Clayton Andrews (Cabrillo JC) and Lucas Halstead (Pacific), each of whom also had a RBI. The Foresters also got a three-hit game from Kyle Isbel (UNLV). With the win Neptune Beach improved to 9-4 in league play while the Foresters fell to 12-6. See the boxscore/recap here.