July 7, 2019 Thousand Oaks, CA The Conejo Oaks swept a doubleheader against the Orange County Riptide today at Sparky Anderson Field, winning both games by one run, the first by walk-off in an unconventional way. The Oaks took advantage of three walks and a balk to, first, tie the score late in the game and, second, to beat the Riptide 3-2 in walk-off fashion in the first game today. Steele Ledford (UC Santa Barbara) walked twice late in the game for Conejo, to leadoff the seventh inning and score the first of two runs that tied the score 2-2, and to leadoff the ninth inning and score the winning run. Ledford’s first walk, followed one out later by a walk received by Raul Sandoval (Oxnard JC) put the tying runs aboard in the seventh and an RBI-single by Tyler Odekirk (Cal St LA) and a sacrifice fly tied the score. Orange County had led in the game since consecutive singles by Caleb Denny (Arkansas) and Blake Faddoul (Santa Clara) to lead off the third inning and a run-producing groundout gave the Riptide a 1-0 lead. Tanner King, who started on the mound for Orange County, held that lead through five shutout innings, allowing three singles while striking out six, and Andre Antone (UC Irvine) pitched a scoreless sixth before the Riptide added another run in the seventh when Joshua Solomon (Columbia) hit a one-out double and Chad Crosbie (Miami) drove him in with a two-out single. Travis Weston (Boise St), the starting pitcher in the first game for Conejo, retired the first six batters he faced before surrendering the first Riptide run and retired four of the last five batters he faced to finish his four-inning start with four strikeouts. Eric Ma (Cal Lutheran) and Marshall Denton (Arkansas) each pitched a scoreless inning before Chris Torres (Moorpark JC) took over the seventh and surrendered the second Riptide run. Clay Rickerman (Cal Lutheran) pitched the eighth and ninth innings scoreless, pitching around a leadoff single and stolen base in the eighth by Michael Peabody (UC Irvine) to strand one, and a leadoff batter who reached base safely in the ninth on a dropped third strike to strand another, striking out two and getting a pop out to keep the game tied. The winning run scored when Devin Sutorius (Biola), who had entered the game with two outs in the seventh inning in relief of Noah Walker (Texas St) and pitched a scoreless eighth, walked Ledford to leadoff the bottom of the ninth and, after a single by Trent MacKinney put runners on the corners, Sutorius balked and Ledford scored. Zach Kaminkow (West Texas A&M) hit a two-run double, Sandoval drove in one with a double, Matthew Strother (UC Santa Barbara) stranded the potential winning and go-ahead runs on base in the sixth inning and Denton stranded the potential tying run at second base in the seventh to lead the Oaks to a 4-3 win in the second game of the doubleheader today. Kaminkow’s double capped a three-run fourth inning that gave the Oaks their first lead in the second game, 4-2, and followed two consecutive singles by Jacob Castro (UC Irvine) and Odekirk to lead off the inning and an error that had tied the score. Orange County had scored first when Max Ferguson (Tennessee) hit a one-out single in the first inning, advanced to third on a two-base error and scored on a sacrifice fly and, after Sandoval hit his RBI-double with two outs in the second, the Riptide took the lead again in the third, scoring when Peabody doubled and Ferguson singled him in. Both Riptide runs were charged to Oaks starting pitcher Carson Carter (Texas Tech) who went three innings, allowing three hits while striking out two before turning the pitching duties over to the Oaks bullpen. Gerry Ramirez pitched around singles in the fourth and fifth innings to hold Orange County scoreless for two innings, but the Riptide rallied for one run against Kyle Nicol (Cal Poly) in the sixth, taking advantage of a walk and a pair of two-out singles by Blake Evans (Georgia Southern) and Connor Aoki (Binghamton) to get within one. Strother relieved Nicol with two outs and two on in the seventh and got a fly out to end the inning, and then Denton pitched around a leadoff double by Peabody, his third hit of the game, to strand the tying run in scoring position by getting a pop out and two groundball outs to close out the Oaks win. Michael Defelippi (Pacific) started on the mound in the second game for Orange County, allowing four runs on five hits while striking out three in three and two-thirds innings of work. Andrew Davis got the last out of the fourth inning for the Riptide and pitched a scoreless fifth before Ryan Sublette (Texas Tech) pitched a scoreless sixth to finish on the mound for the Riptide. Click here for recaps of these games Elsewhere around the CCL today: Healdsburg, CA Kevin Sandri (Pacific) hit a grand slam and drove in five runs, Bryan Sturges (UTSA) hit a three-run home run, Jason Dicochea (Santa Clara) hit a bases-clearing double and Trey Garlett (Texas Tech) struck out seven in a five-inning start to lead the Healdsburg Prune Packers to a 13-11 win over the Lincoln Potters today at Recreation Park. Sandri’s grand slam, which followed a solo home run in the second inning by Cam Blake (Texas A&M), Dicochea’s double in the fourth and his own RBI-single in the fourth, gave Healdsburg what seemed to be an unsurmountable 9-1 lead after five innings. Especially with Garlett pitching. Garlett dominated throughout his five-inning start, allowing one hit, a two-out double by Isaiah Garcia (Cal St. Fullerton) in the first inning, a leadoff walk in the third and an unearned run when a leadoff two-base error and two advancing groundouts allowed Lincoln to score their only run off of him. Other than those three baserunners, Garlett retired every other hitter he faced, striking out seven and retiring 15 of 18 overall. After the two teams traded runs in the sixth inning, Lincoln scoring on an RBI-single by Garcia and Healdsburg scoring when Dicochea hit his second double of the game and scored later on a sacrifice fly, the Potters got back in the game by scoring four runs on three hits, including an RBI-single by Larry Fonseca (Northridge) and a two-run single by Tanner O’Tremba (Texas Tech) in the seventh to make the score 10-6, only to have the Packers extend their lead back out when Sturges hit his home run in the bottom half of the inning. Lincoln made another run at the game in the eighth inning when four walks plated one run and O’Tremba hit a two-out grand slam to make it 13-11, but that was as close as they would get. Randy Polonia (UConn) came in to pitch for the Packers and pitched around two walks to strand the potential tying runs aboard in the ninth inning and close out the win for Healdsburg. Click here for recaps of this game Pasadena, CA Michel Garza (Incarnate Word) struck out seven in a four-inning start and the Arroyo Seco Saints scored four runs on five singles in the third inning to open up a seven-run lead in route to beating the Academy Barons 7-3 today at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Garza was dominant through three innings of his start, retiring every batter he faced plus one as a batter he struck out reached base safely on a dropped third strike. While he was pitching the Saints offense was stringing together hits, scoring once in their first at bat when Drew Cowley (Cal Poly Pomona) hit an RBI-single, twice in the second inning when Christian Scott (Tennessee) hit an RBI-triple and scored on a sacrifice fly and four times in the third when the first four batters of the inning singled to plate two and, one out later, Tido Robles hit a two-run single to give the Saints a 7-0 lead. The Barons finally got to Garza in the fourth inning, stringing four consecutive singles together themselves to lead off the inning to score twice, but those were the only runs they would score until two outs in the ninth inning when Logan Pollack (Michigan) singled and Jacob Shanks (UC Riverside) doubled him home to post the final 7-3 score. In between, the Saints bullpen held the Barons in check. Hayden Harris (Georgia Southern), who relieved Garza to start the fifth inning, pitched around a single in each of the next three innings by retiring the three other batters of each inning, three by strikeout, to hold the Academy scoreless. Chris Burnette (Cal Poly Pomona) pitched a one-two-three eighth inning and Grant Young (San Francisco) retired the first two batters of the ninth before Pollack singled, Shanks doubled and was thrown out trying to reach third base to end the game. Julian Jackson (Eastern Kentucky) started on the mound for the Academy, allowing three runs on three hits while striking out two in two innings, David Appleby (Michigan) pitched the next four innings and surrendered four runs on five hits, and Yuji Sakane (East LA JC) and Sean Paquet (LMU) each pitched a scoreless inning for the Barons. Click here for recaps of this game Santa Barbara, CA Eric Kennedy (Texas) went five-for-five with a double, a triple, two runs scored and two RBI, Dru Baker (Texas Tech) had three hits and two RBI and Zach Presno (Fresno State) hit a two-run home run to lead the Santa Barbara Foresters to a 7-1 win over the San Luis Obispo Blues today at Pershing Park. Kennedy hit safely in each of his five plate appearances today, singling to leadoff the bottom of the first inning, doubling in the Foresters first run of the game in the third, singling in the team’s second run in the fifth, tripling in the seventh and hitting another single in the eighth. His performance alone was enough offense for Santa Barbara to win the game as five Foresters pitchers combined to pitch eight scoreless innings and scatter eight hits while striking out seven. Brooks Fuller (Auburn) started on the mound for the Foresters and struck out five over his five innings of work. Fuller did surrender five hits, however, two to lead off the game by Hunter Swift (Oral Roberts) and Taison Corio (Delta JC), which he stranded, two to lead off the second inning by Duke Pahukoa (UNLV) and Brett Harris (Gonzaga), which led to the Blues’ only run, and Corio’s two-out single in the third. Other than those hits, Fuller was spot on, issuing no walks and retiring every other hitter he faced except the batter who reached on an error in the fifth and who was subsequently caught stealing. By the time Fuller left, the game was still up for grabs. Santa Barbara had scored only once when Kennedy’s double drove in Spencer Jones (Vanderbilt), who had led off the second inning with a single, and the score remained 1-1. But before a pitcher could replace Fuller, the Foresters offense scored four times. Ryan Cash (Oral Roberts) hit a one-out double and scored on a Kennedy single, Baker doubled home Kennedy and Presno hit his home run. Nico O’Donnell (Texas) relieved Fuller to start the sixth inning with a 5-1 lead and held the Blues scoreless over the next inning and two-thirds, pitching around a Brian Klein two-out double in the sixth and a two-out walk and single in the seventh with an assist from Issac Coffey (Oral Roberts) who got the last out of the inning and stranded two baserunners. Jacob Burton (Arkansas) pitched around Klein’s second two-out hit of the game to throw a scoreless eighth inning and Connor Woods (UNLV) retired the side in order in the ninth to finish the game for Santa Barbara. Blues’ pitcher Noah Huerta (Texas Tech) had a strong three-inning start and, after Kennedy singled and was thrown out trying to steal second base to start his outing, he retired five straight until Jones’ single in the third. Brett Super (Pitzer) took over for Huerta to start the fourth inning and struck out three and walked one to throw one scoreless inning before the Foresters rallied in the fifth and saddled him with four runs on four hits in an inning and two-thirds work. Connor Wilford relieved Super and got the final out of the fifth inning and retired the side in order in the sixth before Kennedy tripled to lead off the seventh and scored on a Baker single, and Ross Cadena (Wichita St) drove in Baker with a two-out single to post the final 7-1 score. Wilford then pitched a scoreless eighth inning to finish on the mound for San Luis. Click here for recaps of this game Fairfield, CA Isaiah Verrett (UC Davis) had three hits, including a three-run home run, and four RBI, Wellington Balsley (Solano JC) had three hits and scored three runs, Christian Harkey (Savannah St) hit a pair of RBI-doubles and Caleb Hill (Savannah St) struck out seven over a six-inning start to lead the Solano Mudcats to a 10-3 win over the San Francisco Seals today at Vanden High. Balsley, from his leadoff position, and Verrett, batting second, both singled and scored in the first inning to open the scoring for the Mudcats, Balsley scoring on run-producing groundout and Verrett on Harkey’s first double of the game, to give Solano an early 2-0 lead. That score held until the two teams traded two runs in the fourth inning, the Seals getting two on a Matt Monahan (St. Xavier) and three singles, including RBI-hits by Marco Castillo (Claremont McKenna) and Samuel Gomez (Citrus JC), and Solano getting two on three singles, including a Josh Medina (Sonoma St) two-out RBI, and a Verrett sacrifice fly. Those were the only runs allowed by the two starting pitchers today. Both Drew Sthal, who started for San Francisco, and Hill notched seven strikeouts over their six-inning outings and both walked two batters. The Mudcats didn’t break the game open until the later innings when they scored a pair of two-out runs in the seventh on a walk, a single and a three-base error, and four times in the eighth when two leadoff walks set the table for Varrett’s three-run home run, and Medina’s second single of the game set the table for Harkey’s second RBI-double of the game. Cody Switzer (Napa Valley JC), who entered the game for Solano to start the seventh inning in relief of Hill, pitched a scoreless seventh with two strikeouts and allowed one run in the eighth on a Donny Bendo home run, before Angelo Zorn (Occidental) closed out the win with a scoreless ninth and two strikeouts. Click here for recaps of this game