July 24, 2016 Santa Barbara, CA The Santa Barbara Foresters had a pair of five-run innings and four Foresters pitchers combined for seven strikeouts with only one walk to hold the San Luis Obispo Blues to one run as Santa Barbara clinched the CCL Central Division title and a berth to the CCL playoffs with a 12-1 win today at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Four Foresters hitters had three-hit games and Brett Boswell (Texas) hit his second home run of the day (See post of earlier game just below), a solo shot in the sixth, to lead Santa Barbara. Boswell finished with a game-high three RBI, while Lex Kaplan (Tulane), Hunter Stovall (Mississippi State) and Matt Henderson (Florida State) each had two RBI and each were part of the three-hit quartet. Trevor Abrams (Sonoma St) was the fourth member of the team to have three hits. Connor Mayes (Texas) pitched five scoreless innings to earn the win. The Blues only run came on a solo home run by Harrison Bragg (Mississippi St) in the seventh inning. With the win, Santa Barbara improves its record to 20-12, good for second place overall in the CCL, three games behind the Academy Barons who clinched the best record in the CCL this summer with a win today at home. The Foresters now know they will meet the Neptune Beach Pearl in the playoffs. Game time will be 12pm Friday July 29 at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. With the loss, the Blues fall to 15-14 and, with only two games remaining, they would have to win both of their remaining games and get a lot of help from the other contenders to have a shot at the wildcard berth. Prior to today's regularly scheduled game the Blues and Foresters resumed their contest from June 22 that had been suspended because of darkness with the game tied 2-2 after 12 innings. It took four more innings today for the game to be settled and it was Holden Morris's (Penn) three-run home run with two out in the top of the 16th that was the decider as the Blues went on to win 5-4. Brett Boswell (Texas) hit a home run to lead off Santa Barbara's half of the 16th, and the Foresters got within one after Tyler Adkison (San Diego St) scored on a two-out double off the bat of Hunter Stovall (Mississippi State) but Blues pitcher Ethan Abrams (Columbia) struck the next batter out to earn the win. See the boxscore/recap here. Also in the CCL today: Compton, CA The Academy Barons erupted for eight runs in the sixth inning to blow open a 1-0 game and went on to beat the Southern California Catch 9-4 today at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. The win, which improved the Academy's record in league play to 23-9, seals the Barons position as the number one seed in the CCL Playoffs next weekend at the Academy and assures them that they will finish with the top record in the league. The Barons now know they will play the 4pm game on Friday July 29 and will meet the wildcard winner in the first round of the CCL playoffs. With the loss, the Catch fall to 16-18 and have been eliminated from contention for the wildcard spot in the playoffs. In the sixth inning today the Barons sent up eleven hitters to the plate and scored the eight runs on three walks, three singles, a double, a hit batsmen, two errors by Catch fielders and a sacrifice fly. James Stea (Valparaison) and Jonah Dean-Hargroves (Jackson St) each had two-RBI hits in the inning. Kyle Murray started on the mound for the Barons and earned the win, pitching six scoreless innings while striking out five. Robert Bultena (Orange Coast College) had two hits and scored twice, and Zach Malis (Grand Canyon) had two hits to lead the Catch. See the boxscore/recap here. Long Beach, CA Cassius Hamm (El Camino College) pitched a perfect final four innings of the Orange County Riptide's victory over the Long Beach Legends today and Jacob Portaro (Utah) drove in Laine Huffman (Long Beach St) with the winning run in the ninth inning to give the Riptide a 2-1 win in the first half of a doubleheader between the two clubs at Long Beach City College. Hamm, who entered the game in relief of starter Wyatt Wood (Azusa Pacific), who had five strikeouts and allowed Long Beach's only two hits for the game in his five innings of work, faced the minimum 12 batters in the last four innings and struck out six. Josh Aguilar (Citrus JC) had a strong start on the mound for Long Beach, throwing five scoreless innings and recording four strikeouts before turning the ball over to Cole Leaf (UCLA) who allowed both Orange County's runs and suffered the loss while striking out four. See the boxscore/recap here. In the second game of the doubleheader today, Joe Van Marter (Houston Baptist) had three hits, John Montgomery (Eastern Michigan) drove in two runs, and Chris Ford (Norfolk St) had two hits and scored twice to lead Long Beach to a 7-3 win. Montgomery's two RBI brings his season total to 32 in CCL play, good for second place on the RBI leaders board, three behind league leader Martin Teague's (Academy Barons, Hope Int) total of 35. Griffin Barnes (Grand Canyon) had two hits, an RBI and a run scored to lead the Riptide in thesecond game. See the boxscore/recap here. Thousand Oaks, CA The Conejo Oaks scored six runs in the seventh inning to overcome a 5-4 deficit to the Ventura Halos, and went on to beat the Halos 10-8 today at Sparky Anderson Field. Corey Pool (UNLV) had the big hit for the Oaks in the seventh, a two-run home run, that led the Oaks back after the Halos scored three times in the top half of the inning to take the lead. Chad Spanberger (Arkansas) also homered for the Oaks, his league-best 11th of the summer. Mike Volaski (Rider) had two hits, including a home run, and two RBI, and Brendan Griffith (Clark JC) had three hits and three runs driven in to pace the Halos. The win keeps the Oaks playoff hopes alive. At 19-15 in CCL play with two games remaining, the Oaks can only clinch the wildcard berth in the playoffs next weekend at the MLB Urban Youth Academy by winning both of their remaining games. If they lose once more they will need help. With the loss, Ventura falls to 12-20. See the boxscore/recap here. The 2016 CCL Playoff format and schedule can be viewed here.