July 7, 2018 La Mirada, CA The Conejo Oaks won two games against the Southern California Catch today at Biola University, winning the continuation of a suspended game from June 16 6-4 and then beating the Catch in the regularly scheduled game 10-6. The continuation game took only one inning to resolve as a two-out error in the top of the tenth inning put the go-ahead run aboard and Tyler Ryan (Pacific) took advantage and belted a two-run home run to put the Oaks in front. Angus Denton (Arkansas), who pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth inning back on June 16 when the game was originally suspended due to darkness, picked up where he left off and retired the side in order in the tenth inning today to close out the win for Conejo. In the regularly scheduled game between the same two teams today, Elijah Alexander (Rio Grande Valley JC), Brandon Lewis (UC Irvine) and Chase Cockrell (Ole Miss) had consecutive bases-loaded run-scoring hits, with Cockrell clearing the bases with a double, as part of a five-run fourth inning that busted open a seesaw 3-3 game and gave Conejo a lead they would not relinquish. The Oaks scored first on a one-out double by Lewis and a two-out RBI-single by Jordan McFarland (Arkansas) in the first inning. The Catch answered with two runs in their next at bat when Daniel Jung (Notre Dame) led off with a double, advanced to third on a single by Omar Ortiz (Cochise College) and scored on a wild pitch, and Ortiz scored on a David Martinez (Austin Peay) single. The Oaks took the lead back in third inning, scoring once to tie the score on a wild pitch and taking the lead when McFarland hit another two-out RBI-single. Then, the Catch tied the score again in the fourth inning when Jacob Rogers (UNLV) led off with a double and scored on a Miguel Abascal (USD) two-out single and, after the five-run outburst by the Oaks, the Catch scored twice more in the fifth on a pair of sacrifice flies and once in the sixth when Anj Bourgeois (Biola), who had one of the sacrifice fly RBI in the previous inning, doubled home a run, but the Oaks lead was too big to overcome. Jonathan Lavallee (Pierce College), who entered the game in relief of Oaks starting pitcher Justin Friedman to start the sixth inning, and Nick Rincover (Pierce College), who pitched the last two-plus innings hitless, closed out the win for Conejo. Declan Kearney (Azusa Pacific), the third Catch pitcher of the game, struck out five over two scoreless innings to highlight the Catch pitching. Ryan, whose double started the fourth-inning rally for the Oaks, doubled again to lead off the fifth and scored on the second consecutive single by Will Picketts (CSU Bakersfield), who added an sacrifice fly RBI in the ninth to highlight other Oaks top performers. Click here for recaps of this game Elsewhere in the CCL today: Santa Barbara, CA Chase Illig (West Virginia) went four-for-five with a three-run home run, a two-run double and two singles, Michael Neustifter (Oklahoma State) drove in three runs with a solo home run and a two-run single, and Caleb Sloan (TCU) pitched five scoreless innings to lead the Santa Barbara Foresters to a 10-2 win over the Academy Barons tonight at Pershing Park. Illig, who leads the CCL in home runs with six, opened the scoring with his three-run shot in the first inning, scoring two runners who had reached via a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Two batters later, Neustifter hit his home run and Sloan took over from there. Retiring the last three batters of the first inning after a leadoff error and a Joshua Banuelos (Peru State) double put two runners in scoring position with no outs, Sloan retired the next ten batters in a row before allowing a pair of one-out singles in the fourth. He then retired the final five batters he faced in order and turned the pitching over to the bullpen. Utah Jones (North Greenville) hit a two-out RBI-single in the second inning to up the Santa Barbara lead to 5-0 and the score remained that way until Banuelos singled, stole second base and scored on an Andrew Wilson (Marymount-NAIA) single to put the Barons on the board in the sixth. Brett Standlee (Oklahoma State), who came in to pitch for the Foresters in relief of Sloan to start the sixth inning, retired the next three batters in order following Wilson's single and then pitched around a ground rule double by Daniel Harris (Eastern Kentucky) in the seventh and retired the side in order in the eighth. The Foresters scored three times in their half of the seventh inning, two on Neustifter's single and one on a passed ball, and plated two more when three walks loaded the bases and Illig hit his double with two outs to make the score 10-1. Joseph Argumedo (Lynn) singled and scored an unearned run in the ninth inning for the Academy to complete the scoring. Erik Gutierrez (Lipscomb) started on the mound for the Barons, striking out six over five innings of work, upping his league-leading strikeout total to 31, but suffered the loss. Click here for recaps of this game San Luis Obispo, CA Blayne Jones (Dallas Baptist) hit a grand-slam, Noah Taylor (Cal Poly) and Brian Klein (Texas Tech) each hit a two-out two-run single, and Cole Tucker recorded six strikeouts in a six-inning start to lead the San Luis Obispo Blues to a 10-2 win over the Orange County Riptide today at Sinsheimer Park. Jones' slam, which came in the eighth inning, was the capstone of the second win for the Blues over the Riptide in as many days, as San Luis led the game today wire-to-wire. The Blues got on the board in the first inning when Klein hit a sacrifice fly and Taylor drove in two with his single to post a 3-0 lead. Klein got the Blues going again in the third inning, doubling with one out and scoring later on a bases loaded hit batsmen, and came through with two outs in the fourth, driving in two with a single to up the Blues lead to 6-0. Meanwhile, Tucker was dominating on the mound. Retiring the first eight batters he faced in order before allowing a single to Jake Ortega (Bakersfield), Tucker was scored upon in the fourth inning when two errors led to the Riptide's first run and, after allowing a leadoff walk and a Micah Pries (Point Loma) double in the sixth, the Riptide scored again on a run-producing groundball. Clark Eder (San Diego St) relieved Tucker to start the seventh inning and pitched around four walks to complete three scoreless innings that closed out the win. Jay Charleston (Tennessee) hit three singles and scored three runs to lead all batters in the game, while Pries added a single to finish as the only Riptide players to record a multiple-hit game. Click here for recaps of this game Healdsburg, CA The Arroyo Seco Saints and the Healdsburg Prune Packers split a doubleheader today at Recreation Park, Healdsburg winning the first game 10-5 and the Saints winning the second 6-3. Bryan Arias (San Antonio) had three hits, including a two-run home run, Jake MacNichols (Santa Clara) and Kurt Wilson (Texas Tech) each hit a two-run double, and Jeff Kersten (UConn), Shamus Lyons and Eric Parnow recorded a combined 13 strikeouts to lead Healdsburg to the first game win. Already leading 4-0 after Arias doubled, scored on a MacNichols double and Quentin Selma (Cal) and Wendell Champion II (Houston) added RBI-singles in the first inning, Arias' homer was the big hit in a three run second that followed a leadoff double by Luke Fegen (Indiana State) and an RBI-single by Ben Sanderson (UCSB) to make the score 7-0. The Saints got on the board in the third inning, scoring once on a Jacob Jenkins (MidAm Nazarene) two-out RBI-single and two more when Cooper Williams (New Mexico St) followed Jenkins with a home run. Those were the only runs Kersten, who struck out five, allowed and Lyons, who relieved Kersten to start the fifth inning, was even more stingy, throwing three scoreless one-hit innings while striking out four before turning the pitching duties over to Parnow, who also struck out four, including three in a row in the eighth inning, but did allow the Saints to score twice in the ninth inning when Colin Shepherd (Miami-Ohio) hit a bases-loaded double. The Packers scored their three other runs in the fourth inning when Wilson hit his two-out two-run double and Selma drove Wilson in with a single for his second RBI of the game. Blake Beers (Michigan) struck out seven over five innings, Michael Gomez (Cal Poly Pomona) struck out seven over three innings, and Joey Steele (USF) struck out two in a one-two-three ninth inning to lead the Saints to their second game win. Dueling with Healdsburg ace Chase Gardner (UConn), who recorded eight strikeouts over four and two-thirds innings, Beers, despite the seven punch outs, left the game trailing 2-1 after allowing a single run in the third when Fegen singled, advanced to third on a Kevin Sandri (Pacific) double and scored on a Sanderson single, and one in the fourth when MacNichols led off with a single, went first-to-third on a Wilson single and scored on a sacrifice fly. With both starters dealing, this game turned on the performance of the bullpens. Gardner, who allowed one run in the first when Christina Moya (USC) led off the game with a walk, stole second and third base and scored on an error in an inning when Gardner struck out three, turned the pitching duties over to Henrik Reinertsen (Pacific) with two outs, two on and the Packers leading 2-1 in the fifth inning. Reinertsen retired the first batter he faced to escape the fifth inning, but once the sixth inning started, the Saints were ready. After a leadoff walk, Brennan McKenzie (Cal Poly Pomona) singled the runner into scoring position and John Thomas (USC) doubled one home with the tying run. The next batter reached on a two-run error and, just like that, the Saints were leading 4-2. Jared Noonan (UC Riverside) came into pitch and recorded the three outs in the inning without allowing any further damage. Healdsburg got within one run when a walk and a error put a runner in scoring position in the sixth inning and Clay Koelzer (Texas Tech) hit an RBI-single, but Gomez, who entered the game to start the sixth and struck out the first batter he faced, struck out the next batter after Koelzer's hit, retired the next batter on a pop-up to escape any further damage in the inning. He then struck out two in a scoreless seventh and three in a row in the eighth before Steele came in to pitch the ninth. The Saints got a couple of insurance runs in the eighth inning when two walks to lead off the inning scored on a two-run error to post the final 6-3 score. Click here for recaps of this game