July 8, 2018 San Luis Obispo, CA The Orange County Riptide and the San Luis Obispo Blues split a doubleheader today at Sinsheimer Park, Orange County winning the first game 7-5 and San Luis the second 6-1. The Riptide batted around and scored five runs in the sixth inning to break open a 1-1 score, getting four consecutive RBI-at bats from Austin Sojka (Ok Wesylan), Mason McWhorter (Georgia Southern), Luke Bandy (Dallas Baptist) and Chase Sebby (Ball State), and Sojka added a solo home run in the seventh inning to lead Orange County to the first game win. Scoreless through the first three innings, the game started to heat up after the score was tied when Sojka reached on a fielder's choice with two outs in the fourth inning, McWhorter followed with a single and an error on the play allowed Sojka to score all the way from first with the Riptide's first run, and three consecutive one-out singles in the fifth got San Luis on the board. Both teams got hot in the sixth inning, starting with a leadoff single by Jacob Dominguez (Cal St Fullerton), an error and a walk loaded the bases for the four-batter RBI-parade mentioned above. In the midst of the run production, Orange County scored another run on a wild pitch. That run would prove to be important because in the bottom half of the inning San Luis rallied for four runs when Justin Lutes (Pepperdine) and Conagher Sands (Cal Poly) hit consecutive one-out singles, Brandon Frazier (Georgia Gwinnett) hit an RBI-double and, after a hit batter loaded the bases, Dane Stankiewicz (Grand Canyon), who finished with a game-high three hits and scored the Blues' first run in the fourth on a Noah Taylor (Cal Poly) RBI-single, drove in two with a single and Taylor hit a sacrifice fly to get the Blues within one 6-5. Jacob Parker (Georgia Southern), who entered to pitch to get the final out of the sixth inning, closed out the win with a scoreless seventh inning. Hayden Pearce (Pacific) started on the mound for Orange County, recording five strikeouts in his outing and pitching around three hits in his first four innings before allowing his first run in the fifth and was responsible for the first three runs of the sixth before being relieved by Doug Magee. Jordan Chriss (Columbia) was the starting pitcher for San Luis, collecting four strikeouts in four-plus innings of work while allowing three runs before being relieved by Frankie Scalzo (San Jose St) and Cameron Ziegler. Slade Heggen (Gonzaga) hit a solo home run and an RBI-single, Taylor added an run-scoring double and Gabe Constantine pitched four innings of one-hit, shutout baseball to lead the Blues to the win in the second half of the doubleheader. Heggen's home run came with one out in the fifth inning and made the score 4-0 after the Blues had scored single runs in the first, when Jay Charleston (Tennessee) reached base on a dropped third strike, stole second and eventually scored on Luc Lipcius (Tennessee) sacrifice fly; the second, when Matt Anderson (Georgia Southern) hit a leadoff double and eventually scored on a run-producing groundout; and the fourth inning, when Anderson led off this time with a single, stole second base, advanced to third on an error and scored on a Charleston sacrifice fly. As this was going on Constantine was putting up scoreless innings, allowing only one hit, a Masen Hibbeler (Texas) two-out double in the first inning, and retiring the last six batters he faced before turning the pitching duties over to four San Luis relievers, who allowed a combined one run on three hits over the last five innings to close out the win. Orange County finally got on the board in the seventh inning when Josh Nicoloff (Columbia) doubled home a run, but San Luis answered with two runs in their half of the inning when Heggen and Taylor came through with their run-scoring hits. Ryan Sublette (Texas Tech) started on the mound for the Riptide, striking out four over three-plus innings of work and suffered the loss, allowing three runs on four hits. Click here for recaps of this game Elsewhere in the CCL today: Compton, CA The Conejo Oaks extended their win streak to eight games with a sweep of a doubleheader today at the MLB Urban Youth Academy, beating the Academy Barons 6-5 in the first game and 5-2 in the second. Tyler Ryan (Pacific) and Brandon Lewis (UC Irvine) hit solo home runs, Bart West (USC) drove in two with a two-out bases-loaded single in the first inning to lead the Oaks to their 6-5 win in the first game today. Ryan's home run led off the fifth inning and broke a 3-3 tie after Lewis doubled, scored on a Jordan McFarland (Arkansas) RBI-single and West's single plated three runs for the Oaks in the first inning, and an RBI-single by Cameron Dean (Rockhurst) in the second inning and a two-run home run by Alex Rodriguez in the third gave the Barons three. With the Oaks now leading 4-3, both teams traded runs for the next two innings. The Oaks scored once in the sixth inning when Lewis hit his home run, and the Barons answered in their half of the inning when Christian Lucio (Eastern Kentucky) walked with two outs, stole second base and scored on Dean's second RBI-single of the game. Sam Shaikin (Valparaiso) tripled to lead off the seventh inning and scored on a Ryan sacrifice fly to put the Oaks back up by two but, again, the Barons answered in their half of the inning, Rodriguez this time starting things with two outs, singling and scoring on a Joseph Argumedo (Lynn) single to make the score 6-5. John Vergara, who came in to pitch with two outs in the seventh inning and surrendered Argumedo's hit, struck out the next batter to end that inning's threat and then retired the side in order in the eighth and the first two batters in the ninth, striking out three, before being relieved by Angus Denton (Arkansas), who closed out the win with a strikeout. Dylan Francis (Cal Poly Pomona) started on the mound for Conejo, striking out eight over five and two-thirds innings, allowing four runs on six hits and was credited with the win. Spencer Hereford (Dominguez Hills) was the starter for the Academy, pitching five innings with two strikeouts. Lewis homered again in the second game of the doubleheader, this time hitting a two-run shot in the first inning, and then doubled and scored in the second, McFarland and Michael Tillman (Cal St LA) each hit an RBI-double and the Oaks offense racked up 14 hits en route to their 5-2 win. Lewis' blast followed a leadoff single by Tanner Wright (Cal Lu) that gave Conejo a 2-0 lead before an out was recorded. Then, with two outs and nobody on in the second inning, Lewis and McFarland hit back-to-back doubles to make the score 3-0, and Elijah Alexander (Rio Grande Valley) led off the third inning with a single and scored on Tillman's RBI-double to put the Oaks up 4-0. Aiden Dolan, who started on the mound for the Oaks and pitched around a first inning single and a second inning walk, surrendered a third inning home run to Roosevelt Barnes (Morehouse College) and, after retiring the side in order in the fourth and striking out the first two batters he faced in the fifth, gave up another run when Desmond Gates (West LA JC) drove in Barnes, who had reached on a bunt single and advanced to third on an error on the play, with a single. Dolan was then relieved by David Appleby (Michigan), who came into the game to get the final out of the fifth inning and keep the Oaks ahead 4-2. Appleby pitched a scoreless sixth, Gerry Ramirez (Glendale JC) pitched two scoreless and Denton pitched a scoreless ninth to collect his second save of the day and secure the Conejo win. Will Picketts (CSU Bakersfield) drove in the Oaks' fifth run of the game with a two-out single in the ninth inning. Anthony Nettles (Clark) started on the mound for the Academy, notching six strikeouts while allowing four runs on eight hits over four innings to suffer the loss. Lewis, McFarland and Alexander each finished with a game-high three hits. Click here for recaps of this game Healdsburg, CA Clay Koelzer (Texas Tech) hit a pinch-hit, two-out, walk-off, two-run home run to win the game as the Healdsburg Prune Packers beat the Arroyo Seco Saints 9-8 today at Recreation Park. The dramatic ending was appropriate for a game that featured five home runs, five lead changes and many big moments, none bigger than when Koelzer came to the plate with a runner on in the ninth and Healdsburg trailing 8-7, driving in Jake MacNichols (Santa Clara) who had been hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. The Saints had taken an 8-5 lead after when Dalton Ney (Lee), who had driven in Arroyo Seco's first two runs of the game with a two-out double in the third inning, hit a two-run home run in the eighth, but Bryan Arias (San Antonio) hit a bases-loaded single to drive in two runs in the bottom of the eighth to setup Koelzer's game-winner. Sam Wezniak (Cal) got Healdsburg on the board with a solo home run in the third inning to make the score 2-1, and the Packers took their first lead in the fourth when Arias led off with a solo home run and Cole Brodnansky and Kevin Sandri (Pacific) added RBI-singles to give the Packers a 4-2 lead. The Saints took back the lead in the sixth inning when Drew Cowley (Cal Poly Pomona) hit a two-run home run and two errors plated another, only to have Healdsburg tie the score 5-5 when Sandri, who had doubled earlier in the game, doubled again to drive in one. A one-out walk, a stolen base and an error gave Arroyo Seco a 6-5 lead in the seventh and set up the drama that would occur in the eighth and ninth innings. Colin King (Regis) started on the mound for the Saints, striking out seven but allowing four runs on five hits before being relieved by Reed Osborn (Howard JC) with one out in the fourth inning. Osborn struck out five batters and allowed one run on four hits in two and two-thirds innings before Charles Peacock (Galveston JC) and Joey Steele (USC) failed to secure the win. Griffin Hattingh (Houston) was the starter for Healdsburg, notching four strikeouts in four innings, and Sam Reinertsen (Davidson College) retired the side in order in the ninth inning to pick up the win. Click here for recaps of this game