July 23, 2017 Compton, CA Omar Ortiz (Pacific) hit a pair of two-run home runs to lead the Southern California Catch to a 5-1 win over the Academy Barons today at the MLB Youth Academy. The third and fourth home runs in league play this summer, Ortiz hit his first homer today in the second inning, driving in Steven Garrett (Azusa Pacific) who had hit a leadoff double, to post an early 2-0 lead. Then, in the eighth inning, after singling in both the fourth and sixth innings and the Catch leading 3-0 after Garrett hit a solo home run to lead off the sixth inning, Ortiz homered again, this time driving in Jonathan Ducoff (Houston Baptist) who had reached on a walk, to make the score 5-0. During this span, Catch starting pitcher Zac Whittaker (Fresno CC) had thrown seven shutout innings, allowing only a walk, two singles and two hit batsmen while striking out five, including three straight in the seventh inning. The Barons did score on Whittaker in the eighth inning, however, when Garrett Ouellete hit a two-out single to drive in Javier Garcia (Compton JC) who had reached on a fielder’s choice. Garrett came in to pitch the ninth inning for the Catch, striking out two to close out the win. Solomon Bates (USC) started on the mound for the Academy, striking out eight over seven innings, allowing three runs on seven hits to suffer the loss. Click here for recaps of this game Elsewhere around the CCL today: Santa Barbara, CA Blair Henley (Texas) allowed only one baserunner in seven innings pitched, retiring the first 16 batters he faced, 20 of 21 overall and struck out nine as he, Kyle Smith (Cal Poly) and Colton Follett combined to throw a two-hit shutout to lead the Santa Barbara Foresters to a 7-0 win over the San Luis Obispo Blues today at Pershing Park. In other words, Henley was throwing a perfect game until one out in the sixth inning when Ricky Martinez (Sacramento St) hit a triple. Henley then fielded a ground ball for the second out, left Martinez stranded at third with a strikeout, and retired the Blues in order in the seventh inning before turning the pitching duties over to Smith and Follett who completed the shutout with one inning each. The Foresters scored the only run they would need in the third inning when David Hamilton (Texas) hit a leadoff double and scored later on a wild pitch. John McMillon (Texas Tech) hit a two-out, three-run home run in the sixth inning after Spencer Steer (Oregon) drove in one with a sacrifice fly, Austin Todd (Texas) hit a run-scoring ground rule double in the seventh and Steer added a solo home run in the eighth to complete the scoring. Josh Goldberg (San Jose St) started on the mound for San Luis Obispo, allowing five runs on six hits while striking out three to suffer the loss. The loss moves the Blues one and a half game behind the Conejo Oaks, who were idle today, for the last berth to the CCL playoffs beginning Friday at the MLB Youth Academy. With the Blues having three games remaining, one versus the Oaks, and the Oaks having only two games remaining, the elimination number for the Blues is now one: One San Luis Obispo loss or one win by the Oaks and the Blues are eliminated from playoff contention. Click here for recaps of this game Long Beach, CA Joey Parente hit a two-run single in the second inning, Chase Sebby hit an RBI-single in the third, and Jake Pulcheon (Houston Baptist) drove in two in the fourth with a single to lead the Orange County Riptide to a 5-2 win over the Long Beach Legends today at Long Beach City College. Tanner Murphey started on the mound for the Riptide, allowing one run on four hits while striking out three over three innings before turning the ball over to Timothy Holdgrafer who also allowed a run on four hits but struck out five over four innings. Kaz Akamatsu (UC Irvine) and Josh Carpenter (Louisiana Tech) each pitched a scoreless inning to close out the win. Jason McLellan (Concordia) pitched four scoreless innings in relief of Long Beach starting pitcher Jacob Alcorn, who gave up all five Orange County runs to suffer the loss. Long Beach scored their first run in the fourth inning on an RBI-ground out by Joe Caparis (Pepperdine) and their second in the fifth on an RBI-single by Zack Chan (Hawaii). Parente and Sebby each finished with a game-high three hits. Click here for recaps of this game Ventura, CA The Arroyo Seco Saints scored 12 runs on 17 hits to beat the Ventura Halos 12-4 today at Ventura College. Scottie Graham (LMU) had a game-high three RBI on a single and a two-run double, Blake Burton (Washington) hit a pair of doubles, Gabe Chavez (Rio Hondo JC) doubled and hit three singles to finish with a game-high four hits and three runs scored and Tyler Durna (UC San Diego) hit an RBI-double and two singles to highlight the Arroyo Seco offense. Tim Turner (George Mason) started on the mound for the Saints, striking out four in four innings of work and allowed two of the Halos’ runs on a two-run single by Dalton Duarte (Dominguez Hills) in the third inning. Lowell Schipper (Richmond) pitched three innings in relief of Turner, striking out four and allowed the other two Ventura runs in the sixth inning on a two-run home run by Daniel Edson (USC), which drove in Calvin Farris (Brown) who had tripled. Brennan McKenzie (Cal Poly Pomona), who had a pair of RBI-singles, Burton and Durna all finished with two RBI, one behind Graham, for the Saints. Click here for recaps of this game Oakland, CA Andrew Davis (Texas Tech) and Caleb Freeman (Texas Tech) combined to throw a six-hit shutout and posted eleven strikeouts between them, Jordan Williams (Diablo Valley JC) hit a three-run home run and Jacob Chappell (Oklahoma St) had doubles in consecutive at bats to lead the Neptune Beach Pearl to a 9-0 win over the Walnut Creek Crawdads tonight at Laney College. Davis started the game for Neptune and threw six innings with seven strikeouts, at least one in each inning pitched, before turning the ball over to Freeman who struck out four over the last three innings, including the last two batters of the game. The Pearl scored single runs in the third, when Tim Lichty (Texas A&M) tripled and scored on a Williams ground out; the fourth, when Cooper Morrison (Reedly JC) drove in Kai Moody (Cabrillo JC) who led off the inning with a single; and in the fifth, when Williams and Chappell went double-double with two outs to put the score at 3-0. The flood gates opened in the sixth and the Pearl scored six runs that included doubles by Morrison, Travis Wacker (Oklahoma St) and Chappell and capped by Williams’ three-run homer. Click here for recaps of this game