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.