July 19, 2017 Alameda, CA Chase Gardner (UCONN) and Nolan Bond (Houston) combined to throw either a no-hitter or a one-hit shutout, depends on who you ask, as the Healdsburg Prune Packers beat the Neptune Beach Pearl 5-0 in the second game of a doubleheader the two teams split today at the College of Alameda. Officially, Gardner and Bond will be credited for a one-hitter, as the home team report of the game awarded an infield hit to pinch-hitter Tim Lichty (Texas A&M) in the bottom of the seventh inning when the groundball he hit was just out of the reach of first baseman Cameron Warren (Texas Tech) who got his glove on the ball but couldn’t reel it in to make a play. The visiting team report of the game ruled the play an error on Warren but the home team report has the final say. Either way, it was a remarkable performance by Gardner and Bond. Gardner struck out twelve batters in five innings, walking four, before handing the ball to Bond, who besides allowing the one hit, walked one batter, hit one batter and retired everyone else, including five on strikeouts, over the last four innings. Jamey Smart (LMU) hit two home runs in the nightcap, a solo shot in the sixth inning and a two-run homer in the ninth to lead Healdsburg offensively. Neptune overcame an early 4-0 deficit in the first game of the doubleheader, scoring four times in the fourth inning, three on a home run by James Free II (Pacific), to tie the score, and five times in the fifth to take the lead and go on to win 11-7. Free, who followed his home run with an RBI-single in his next at bat, finished with a game-high four RBI, and Andrew Rosa (Oklahoma St), who had three RBI on two singles, were the leaders offensively for the Pearl. Grant Little (Texas Tech) doubled and singled twice, driving in two, and Cole Brodnansky (Santa Rosa JC) hit three singles to lead Healdsburg. With the doubleheader split, each team inches closer to clinching a spot in the CCL playoffs a week from Friday in Los Angeles and each continues to battle with the other for the top spot in the CCL standings. The magic number for Healdsburg, who now has a one game lead on Neptune in the CCL standings, is one: One more win and they are assured at least a wildcard spot in the playoffs. Neptune’s magic number is two. Click here for recaps of these games Elsewhere around the CCL today: Pasadena, CA Brennan McKenzie (Cal Poly Pomona) hit a two-run home run to highlight a four-run first inning, and Corey Harrell (Graceland) hit a two-run home run in the seventh to cap the scoring as the Arroyo Seco Saints beat the Academy Barons 14-1 today at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Alex Briggs (LIU Brooklyn) had a game-high three hits, all singles, and joined McKenzie and Harrell with two RBI for the game, as did Blake Burton (Washington) who had a pair of run-scoring singles. Jumpei Akanuma (Lee), who started on the mound for the Saints and threw six innings to earn the win, Grant Vogenthaler (San Francisco St), Corbin Lamb (Lee) and Gabe Golob (NYU) combined to hold the Barons’ hitters to four hits and did not issue a single walk. Eric Whitfield, who singled and doubled in his first two plate appearances, had two of the Barons four hits. Click here for recaps of this game San Luis Obispo, CA The San Luis Obispo Blues scored four runs on six singles in the ninth inning to post a 5-4 come-from-behind walk-off win over the Santa Barbara Foresters tonight at Sinsheimer Park. With one out in the inning, Myles Emmerson (Cal Poly) drove in Price Visintainer (UAB), Justin Beck (San Jose St) drove in Ricky Martinez (Sacramento St) and, after Marco Murillo (Campbellsville) singled to load the bases, Tate Samuelson (Cal Poly) drove in two for the walk-off win. It had been eight innings since the Blues had scored in the game, that was when Andrew Ramos (Cumberlands) hit a solo home run with two outs in the first inning before the Blues hitters went silent for seven innings. Daniel Vasquez (Tennessee) started on the mound for Santa Barbara recording eight strikeouts in six innings and retiring the last eight batters he faced in order. Jack Schneider (Grand Canyon) started and also went six innings for San Luis Obispo, allowing four runs on six hits. Josh Jung (Texas Tech) and David Clawson (BYU) had RBI-singles for the Foresters, Steven Coe (UC San Diego) drove Clawson in with a sacrifice fly in the second inning, and then doubled and scored in the fifth to account for the Santa Barbara runs. Click here for recaps of this game Ventura, CA Daniel Zimmerman (Michigan) had a four-for-four game, including a solo home run, Giovanni Garbella (Valparaiso) had a triple and two singles, and Evan May (Hawaii Pacific) notched six strikeouts in a five-inning start to lead the Long Beach Legends to a 9-4 win over the Ventura Halos today at Ventura College. Dalton Duarte (Dominguez Hills) hit a solo home run and Adisson Pelupessy drove in two runs with a pair of singles to lead Ventura. Click here for recaps of this game Oakland, CA David Rajeski pitched seven innings scoreless, striking out four, Sean Watkins (Cal St LA) hit a solo home run and Kevin Whitaker (Laney College) drove in three runs on a sacrifice fly and a two-run double to lead the Walnut Creek Crawdads to a 6-2 win over the Auburn Wildcats today at Laney College. Connor Caspersen, David Langer (Chabot) and Jake Allen (Harvard) each had a game-high two hits for Walnut Creek and Taylor Field (Winona St) singled twice to lead Auburn. Click here for recaps of this game La Mirada, CA The Conejo Oaks beat the Southern California Catch 7-3 in the regularly scheduled game between the two teams today at Biola Univesity. Earlier the Catch finalized a win over the Oaks in the resumption of yesterday’s game between the same two teams in Thousand Oaks which was suspended because of darkness with the Catch leading 6-5 in the eleventh inning. The suspended game was completed with no change to the score. Details of today’s game were not reported as of post time.