July 23, 2019 The CCL Playoffs and Affiliate Division Playoffs get underway tomorrow with the first game of a best-of-three series between the No. 2 seeded Lincoln Potters and the No. 1 seeded Healdsburg Prune Packers at Recreation Park in Healdsburg. Game time is 6pm. The CCL Playoffs begin Thursday at Sparky Anderson Field on the campus of Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks with a three-team single elimination tournament. The No. 3 seeded Arroyo Seco Saints will meet the No. 2 seeded Orange County Riptide in an elimination game, the winner of which will meet the No. 1 seeded Santa Barbara Foresters on Friday in a winner-take-all championship game. Game times are 4:30pm. The winner of the Affiliate Division Playoffs will then meet the CCL Champion in a best-of-three California State Championship set to begin Saturday at Sparky Anderson Field at 4pm. Other news around the CCL today: Pasadena, CA Christian Franklin (Arkansas) hit a pair of home runs, driving in three, Eric Kennedy (Texas) doubled to finish the regular season with a .400 batting average, good for a CCL batting title, and Brad Demco pitched two innings of scoreless relief to finish the regular season with a CCL best .000 ERA to lead the Santa Barbara Foresters to a 7-3 win over the Arroyo Seco Saints tonight at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Franklin’s first home run came in the first inning, driving in Kennedy, who had led off the game with his double, to put the Foresters up 2-0. His second home run led off the seventh inning and sparked a three-run rally that included an RBI-single by Quentin Selma (Cal), posting the final score. Demco was the second reliever into the game for Santa Barbara, starting the sixth inning in relief of Connor Woods (UNLV). Demco struck out five in two hitless innings, giving him 35 for the season, good enough to win the CCL strikeout king crown for 2019. Caden Monke (Arkansas) started on the mound in this game for the Foresters and went three innings, striking out three, allowing three hits and surrendering all three Saints runs, one in the first inning when Nikolas Pagan (Hartford) hit an RBI-single, and two in the third when a run producing groundout and a sacrifice fly plate the last runs of the game for the Saints. Woods picked up the win in relief of Monke, throwing two scoreless innings in which he retired all six batters he faced, three by strikeout. The Foresters took over the lead for good in the fourth inning when Connor Pavolony (Tennessee) singled to lead off the inning, Tevin Tucker (West Virginia) followed him with a double and both scored, Pavolony on a RBI-groundout and Tucker on a sacrifice fly. All seven Santa Barbara runs were charged to Saints starting pitcher Grant Young (San Francisco), who allowed seven runs on seven hits while striking out two and pitched into the seventh inning before Justin Kleinsorge came in with no outs and two runners on in that inning. Kleinsorge faced only three batters in the seventh, but Selma’s hit and an RBI-groundout produced the last two Santa Barbara runs. Trevor Davis (Cornell) and Race Gardner (Hawaii-Hilo) pitched the last two innings for the Saints, Davis retiring three straight in the eighth inning, striking out two, and Gardner retiring three of four in the ninth to finish the game for Arroyo Seco. Jacob Burton (Arkansas) and Elijah Trest (Arkansas) each pitched an inning of scoreless relief to close out the win for the Foresters, each posting two strikeouts. Click here for recaps of this game Compton, CA Carson Carter (Texas Tech) pitched four innings of one-hit, shutout baseball, striking out six, Nico Lima (Oxnard CC) hit a solo home run, Raul Sandoval (Oxnard CC) hit a pair of RBI-singles, and Ramon Gomez (Oklahoma Baptist) and Trent MacKinney each hit RBI-doubles to lead the Conejo Oaks to an 11-6 win over the Academy Barons tonight at the MLB Youth Academy. Carter hit two batters and gave up the lone single in his four-inning start but otherwise he was perfect. He retired the side in order in his first and last inning, had strikeouts in all four innings, and got plenty of run support. The Oaks scored four runs in their first at bat on four hits, including RBI-singles by Ryne Yamashiro (Cal Lutheran) and Sandoval, an RBI-groundout by Gabe Baldovino (Ventura JC) and an error. Conejo added to their lead in the second inning when Lima hit his home run, in the fifth when Gomez and MacKinney hit back-to-back RBI-doubles to plate two, and in the sixth when they rallied for four runs on three hits, including run scoring singles by Sandoval and Baldovino, and two RBI-groundouts to take an 11-0 lead. Aaron Suval (Glendale JC) was the first reliever into the game for the Oaks, starting the fifth inning in relief of Carter and, after pitching the fifth scoreless, surrendered the first two Academy runs when Trent Anderson doubled and scored on a Christian Lucio (Eastern Kentucky) single, and Lucio scored on an infield out. Peyton Ebel (Greensboro) relieved Suval to get the final out in the sixth and pitched a scoreless seventh before Clay Rickerman (Cal Lutheran) took over to start the eighth and allowed the Barons’ next three runs on a sacrifice fly and three hits, including Anderson’s second consecutive double, an RBI-triple by Kendall Ewell (Eastern Kentucky) and a run-scoring single by Marcus Johnson (Santa Ana JC). Marshall Denton (Arkansas) pitched the ninth for the Oaks and surrendered one run when Anderson got his fourth hit of the game, stole a base and scored on an error. The Academy utilized seven pitchers for their last game of the season, none throwing more than two innings and highlighted by JP Massey (Minnesota) who struck out the side in his one inning of work in the ninth. Click here for recaps of this game