July 16, 2017 Healdsburg, CA Landon Etzel (Houston) had a pinch-hit three-run home run, and Bryce Nagata (Sonoma St) and Clay Koelzer (Texas Tech) each had RBI-doubles to lead the Healdsburg Prune Packers to a 9-3 win over the Neptune Beach Pearl today at Recreation Park. The win flip-flopped the position of the two teams atop the CCL standings, a common occurrence this past week, with Healdsburg now holding a half-game lead. Etzel’s home run, which came in the eighth inning with two outs, while notable, was only an exclamation to the Packers win. It was Koelzer’s double in the fifth inning, which came with the bases loaded, two outs and the score 3-2, was the big hit in the game. Keolzer’s double, especially notable because Neptune’s pitcher Andrew Davis (Texas Tech) had struck out the previous two batters when Healdsburg loaded the bases with no outs, plated two runs and was followed by an RBI-single by Sawyer Pittman (San Jose St) to make the score 6-2. Previous to that turning point, the two teams had been trading single runs with Neptune scoring one in the first inning when Harrison Moore doubled and scored on a two-out single by Andrew Rosa (Oklahoma St); Healdsburg scoring in the bottom half of the inning when Nagata led off with a single, stole second base and scored on a single by Jamey Smart (LMU). Healdsburg evened the score again in the third inning after Neptune scored an unearned run in the second when Cameron Warren (Texas Tech), who had four hits in the game and took over the league’s top spot in average for the first time this season with a .458 mark, drove in Nagata who had walked, and then took the lead in the fourth when Nagata drove in Bret Bautista (San Jose St) with a two-out double. Cooper Casad (Pacific) started on the mound for the Packers, scattering eight hits with four strikeouts and no walks to only allow two runs over five innings to earn the win. Davis, who struck out six in six innings, suffered the loss. Click here for recaps of this game Elsewhere around the CCL today: Irvine, CA Shay Whitcomb (UC San Diego) hit a two-out three-run home run, Mitchel Bumann (Hawaii-Pacific) and Tyler Fisher (Olivet Nazarene) each had doubles to score a crucial run in the eleventh inning, and Evan Sandmann (Dallas Baptist) drove in Grant Robbins (UNLV) with what would be the game-winning run in the twelfth to lead the Southern California Catch to a 7-6 win over the Orange County Riptide today at Concordia University. The win snapped the Riptide’s eight-game winning streak and also snapped the Catch’s losing streak to the Riptide. It was the first win for the Catch in the six meetings the two teams will have this summer. Whitcomb’s homer in the fifth inning, which followed a run-scoring single by Tobias Johnson (Arkansas St), gave the Catch a 4-1 lead that would not last. Jake Pulcheon (Houston Baptist), who scored the opening run of the game after leading off the second inning with a single, and Logan Pouelsen (Hawaii) went double-double to lead off the sixth to make the score 4-2, and Pouelsen produced another run in seventh by drawing a bases-loaded walk followed by an RBI-ground out Chase Sebby to tie it 4-4. The Catch took the lead again in the seventh inning when Robbins drove in Nate Pecota (William Jewell) who had singled, only to have Orange County tie the score again in their half of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Dominic Fletcher (Arkansas). That pattern repeated in the eleventh inning when Bumann and Fisher gave the Catch a one-run lead, only to have Pouelsen tie it with a solo home run, but it didn’t repeat in the twelfth after Sandmann’s RBI. Conner Davis (Creighton), who entered the game to pitch for the Catch after Pouelsen’s home run, retired the last five batters in order to pick up the win. Click here for recaps of this game San Luis Obispo, CA The Academy Barons scored three times in the fifth inning, twice on a two-run single by Garrett Ouellete, to take the lead and added insurance runs by way of a two-out RBI-double by Bruce Martin (Stetson) followed by an two-run triple by Caleb Squire (Bellevue) in the seventh and a solo home run by Solomon Bates (USC) in the ninth to beat the San Luis Obispo Blues 9-5 today at Sinsheimer Park. After both teams had scored twice in their half of the first inning, Justin Beck (San Jose St) gave the Blues a brief 4-2 lead in the fourth by driving in two with a one-out single. Wesley Albert (Lee), who came in to pitch in fifth inning in relief of starter Matt Mogollon (Chapman), held San Luis Obispo scoreless for three innings, striking out four to pick up the win. The Barons’ Randy Rubio (Marymount) and the Blues’ Tate Samuelson (Cal Poly) each doubled and singled twice to finish with a game-high three hits. Marco Murillo (Campbellsville), who started and suffered the loss, and Josh Goldberg (San Jose St), who pitched in relief, each had five strikeouts in four innings pitched for San Luis Obispo. Click here for recaps of this game Ventura, CA The pitching foursome of Ray Lambert (San Diego St), Angus Denton (Arkansas), Miguel Salud (Cal Lutheran) and Robbie Medel (Arizona) combined to record 17 strikeouts, including two in every inning but one, and DJ Miller (Ole Miss) tripled and Sam Shaikin (Valparaiso) hit a run-scoring double in a three-run second inning that was all the run support needed as the Conejo Oaks beat the Ventura Halos 4-1 today at Ventura College. Lambert, who started and went four innings scoreless, posted the most strikeouts with seven, followed by Salud and Medel who had four each in two-inning stints, and Denton who struck out two in his one inning of work. For the other side, Dyaln Francis (Cal Poly Pomona) also posted seven strikeouts, but allowed the four Oaks runs on five hits over eight innings to suffer the loss. Shaikin, who singled later in the game, and Ventura’s Dayton Provost (Ventura JC), who tripled and singled, were the only players with multiple hits in the game. Blake Mann (UCSB) doubled and scored the Halos only run in the seventh inning on a run-scoring single by Rudy Aguilar (Ventura JC). Brandon Lewis (LA Pierce JC) doubled home Max Weinstein (Cal Lutheran) in the eighth inning with the Oaks’ final run. Provost, whose two hits today raised his average in league play to .455, fell out of the top spot in that category for the first time in weeks, and now trails Healdsburg’s Cameron Warren (Texas Tech), whose four hits today raised his average to .458. Click here for recaps of this game