slideshow - California Collegiate League (CCL)

July 31, 2016
Compton, CA
Zach Esquivel (Rice) was perfect for five-plus innings, Hunter Williams (Tulane) and Tyler Adkison (San Diego St) each homered, and Bret Boswell (Texas) stayed red-hot at the plate as the Santa Barbara Foresters beat the Conejo Oaks 5-2 today at the MLB Urban Youth Academy to win the 2016 California Collegiate League Championship. It was the Foresters 21st league championship in the 24-year history of the CCL, its first league playoff championship and their first outright championship since 2011. Co-Champions with the San Luis Obispo Blues in 2012 and 2013 when Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo finished with identical league records, the league adopted a playoff format to determine its champion beginning in 2014 but, because the dates of the playoffs coincided with the NBC World Series in Wichita, KS, the Foresters chose to not compete in the playoffs in lieu of playing for the tournament championship in Wichita, a tournament they have won five times since 2006 and which has cemented the perception that Santa Barbara is the top summer collegiate program in the country. But, this year, partly because the dates of the NBC World Series were adjusted to start in August, and partly because the 2016 calendar provided favorable conditions for the CCL to finish its playoffs by the end of July, the Foresters were able to participate in both the CCL playoffs and the NBC tournament and, once again, they proved, without a doubt in anyone’s mind who were present at the playoffs, they are best team in the CCL. And the “why” Santa Barbara was so good this year was pitching.
Three starting pitchers, Kyle Johnston (Texas), Connor Mayes (Texas) and Esquivel were dominant in each of the three playoff games Santa Barbara needed to win the championship. Johnston threw seven shutout innings on Friday as the Foresters beat the Neptune Beach Pearl in the first round of the playoffs, Mayes matched that and threw seven shutout innings Saturday in Santa Barbara’s win over the Oaks, and Esquivel faced the minimum number of batters, 17 up-17 down, through five and two-thirds innings before Dallas Tessar (Washington) bunted for the Oaks first hit. All three of the Foresters starters were selected to the CCL All-Playoff team and Esquivel finished his outing today with six strikeouts over six-plus innings and allowed one run on five hits and one walk.
The only player who was more dominant than Santa Barbara’s pitchers was Boswell. The shortstop from Texas had five hits, including two doubles, and four RBI in the Foresters three playoff games, and when he opened the scoring in today’s championship game with a two-run double in the third inning, his selection as the 2016 CCL Playoffs MVP was all but assured. While Boswell’s run production was the opening for the Foresters scoring, Williams’ home run, a two-run blast over the left-field wall which drove in Boswell in the next at bat, and Adkison’s solo home run, an even further blast over the left-field wall in the fourth inning were the exclamation points. All five runs were scored off Oaks starting pitcher Cody Thompson (San Diego St), who struck out seven over five innings.
Conejo did eventually get to Esquivel in the sixth inning when Corey Pool (UNLV) drove in Chad Spanberger (Arkansas), who had walked to lead off the inning and was advanced into scoring position by a Chad Bible (San Diego St) single, with an RBI-single. Jake Arledge (Arkansas) hit a solo home run over the left field wall off of Santa Barbara’s first reliever into the game, Tanner Lawson (Houston), in the eighth inning to make the score 5-2, but Conejo would get no closer as Blake Smith (Mississippi State) pitched a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts to earn the save for Santa Barbara. See the boxscore/recap of this game here.

2016 CCL All-Playoff Team
Kyle Johnston (Texas), P Santa Barbara
Connor Mayes (Texas), P Santa Barbara
Zach Esquivel (Rice), P Santa Barbara

Steven Coe (UC San Diego), best defensive Catcher, Santa Barbara
Hunter Williams (Tulane), 1B Santa Barbara
Max Weinstein (Cal Lutheran), 2B Conejo Oaks
Kyle Sanchez (Cal), 3B Conejo Oaks
Bret Boswell (Texas), SS Santa Barbara
Clayton Andrews (Cabrillo JC), OF Neptune Beach
Keyon Allen (UNLV), OF Academy Barons
Ernie De la Trinidad (UNLV), OF Academy Barons
Chad Bible (San Diego St), OF Conejo Oaks
Jake Arledge (Arkansas), OF Conejo Oaks
Matt Henderson (Florida St), OF Santa Barbara
Chad Spanberger (Arkansas), DH Conejo Oaks

MVP – Bret Boswell (Texas), SS Santa Barbara

July 30, 2016
Compton, CA
The Conejo Oaks and Santa Barbara Foresters advanced through the second round of the CCL playoffs today at the MLB Urban Youth Academy and will meet tomorrow at 10am to play for the 2016 CCL Championship. Santa Barbara beat the Oaks in the head-to-head meeting of the two playoff finalists 5-0, taking a direct route to the championship game as the unbeaten team, while the Oaks rebounded from their loss to the Foresters by beating the Neptune Beach Pearl 7-6 in the elimination game immediately following and will have to beat Santa Barbara twice tomorrow to claim the championship.
Starting pitcher Connor Mayes (Texas) was the story in the Foresters win over the Oaks. Mayes threw seven scoreless innings, scattering four hits while striking out seven and did not give up a walk. Ryan Shetter (Texas Tech) relieved Mayes in the eighth and finished the game just as Mayes had started it, dominantly, allowing only one runner to reach base in the final two innings to earn the save. The Santa Barbara pitchers got all the run support they would need in the second inning when Dylan Paul (Texas State) singled, stole second base and scored on a RBI-single by Bryan Bussey (Florida St). Insurance runs would follow though as Bret Boswell (Texas), who had a great game at the plate going four-for-five, doubled home a run in the third inning, Lex Kaplan (Tulane) hit a solo home run in the sixth, Boswell hit a run-scoring single and Hunter Williams (Tulane) added a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Chad Spanberger (Arkansas) and Kyle Sanchez (Cal) each had two hits to lead the Oaks offense, while Conejo’s starting pitcher Isaiah Campbell (Arkansas) had eight strikeouts in his seven innings of work but allowed all of the five Santa Barbara runs and suffered the loss. See the boxscore/recap of this game here.

The Oaks rebounded from their loss to Santa Barbara by scoring four runs in their first at bat against Neptune Beach in the elimination game. Leadoff hitter Jake Arledge (Arkansas) started things off with a double, advanced to third on a single by Sanchez and scored when a groundball by Spanberger was mishandled by the Neptune Beach shortstop. Chad Bible (San Diego St) then plated both Sanchez and Spanberger with a double and, after advancing to third on the play by way of another Pearl error, scored on a sacrifice fly by Codi Santana (Hawaii Pacific). The four-run Conejo lead was almost totally erased in Neptune Beach’s first at bat, however, as Walker Pennington (Texas A&M) drove in Clayton Andrews (Cabrillo JC), who had walked, with a single; Baylor Rowlett (Oklahoma St) drove in Tristan Hildebrandt (Cal St Fullerton), who had doubled, home from third with a groundout, and Nick Allman (Santa Barbara CC) later drove in Rowlett with an RBI-single to cut the Oaks lead to 4-3. The Pearl scored twice more in the second inning when Andrews, who had a perfect four-for-four game at the plate, hit one of his two triples to drive in one of the runs and Pennington scored Andrews with a productive groundout. The Oaks came right back to reclaim the lead for good in the third inning when Cody Farhat (Texas Tech) hit a mammoth three-run home run over the left-center wall to give Conejo a 7-5 lead. The Pearl got to within one run of tying the game in the sixth inning when Andrews scored on Rowlett single, but they squandered multiple scoring chances, including twice not taking the opportunity to score from third when the Oaks defense was not making a play to stop them and another time running into an out while trying to score on a passed ball with one out. While the starting pitching for both teams was mostly ineffective, the Oaks final two relievers Jake Sylvester (Northridge) and Robby Medel (Arizona) were up to the pressure-packed challenge of the last three innings by striking out two batters each and holding the Pearl scoreless. See the boxscore/recap of this game here.

In today’s first elimination game, played at 10am just prior to the Oaks-Foresters matchup of unbeaten teams, the Pearl and the Academy Barons, both of whom had lost their first-round games yesterday, faced off against each other to see who would advance. Barons starting pitcher Kyle Murray had a strong outing, striking out six over six innings and, after the Barons offense scored three times in the fifth inning on a solo home run by Adonis Morrison, an RBI-single by Keyon Allen (UNLV) and a run-scoring groundout by Jonah Dean-Hargroves (Jackson St), Murray left the game after allowing only one run, an Andrews RBI-single in the sixth inning, with the Barons leading 3-1. The Barons scored twice more in the top of the seventh when Zack Kolakowski (Illinois) led off with a triple and then scored on Allen’s second RBI-single, and Dean-Hargroves again drove in Allen, this time with a single, to give the Barons what seemed to be a comfortable 5-1 lead. But, immediately after Murray was lifted from the game, the Pearl took advantage of three walks and a hit batsman issued by two Academy relievers and errors by two Academy fielders to score five runs on only two hits, one by Andrew Bryniarski (Regis) and one by Pennington, and a sacrifice fly by Andrews. The Neptune Beach relievers fared much better. Theron Kay (Baylor), who entered the game in the middle of the seventh after the Barons scored twice in the inning, got the final two outs in the seventh and three more via the strikeout in the eighth without allowing a hitter on base, and Blake Peters (UC Davis) got three groundouts in the ninth to earn the save and give Neptune Beach one more game on the season. See the boxscore/recap of this game here.

The 2016 CCL Playoff format and schedule can be viewed here.

July 29, 2016
Compton, CA
The Santa Barbara Foresters and the Conejo Oaks each won their first-round playoff games today at the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton and will face each other tomorrow and, with a win, take a direct path to the 2016 CCL Championship Game on Sunday.
Kyle Johnston (Texas) allowed only one hit and struck out six over seven scoreless innings to lead Santa Barbara to a 3-1 win over the Neptune Beach Pearl in the first of the two CCL playoff games today. Johnston was in command throughout. Of the 24 batters he faced today he allowed only three to reach base, one on a walk, one on a single and one on an error that Johnston himself committed but then promptly erased by inducing a ground-ball double-play. Johnston’s pitching performance would’ve stood out even more if Neptune Beach starting pitcher Jason Seever wasn’t so close to being just as dominant. Seever struck out six and cruised through the first five innings. His only blemish early was a single allowed to Lex Kaplan (Tulane) in the second inning and, after Kaplan stole second and third base, Seever gave up a run on a Dylan Paul (Texas State) groundout. But in the sixth inning the Foresters got to Seever. Travis Moniot (Oregon) doubled down the left field line and, when Matt Henderson (Florida St) bunted to move Moniot to third, Henderson beat the throw to first to put runners on the corners. Henderson then moved to second on a wild pitch, Bret Boswell (Texas) drove Moniot in with a sacrifice fly, Hunter Williams (Tulane) drove in Henderson with a two-out single to right and the Foresters had a 3-0 lead. The Pearl finally scored in the ninth inning as Clayton Andrews (Cabrillo JC) doubled in a run, but Foresters closer Blake Smith (Mississippi St) got a strikeout and two groundouts to earn the save. See the boxscore/recap of this game here.

In today’s second first-round playoff game, Jacob Patterson (Texas Tech) and Henry Omana (Cal Poly Pomona) faced off in a duel of staff aces, and the Conejo Oaks and Academy Barons traded runs all the way until Jake Arledge (Arkansas) hit a one-out triple in the top of the ninth inning and scored on a Kyle Sanchez (Cal) sacrifice fly to give the Oaks a 5-4 win. Omana and Patterson were both dominant at times, Omana striking out eight over six innings of work, and Patterson striking out five and allowing only three hits in his six innings, but neither pitcher was untouchable. Omana gave up nine hits, including a solo home run by Max Weinstein (Cal Lutheran) and RBI-hits by Codi Santana (Hawaii Pacific) and Arledge, and allowed a total of four runs. Patterson was more effective, but in the third inning after loading the bases by allowing two walks and hitting a batter, he gave up a run-scoring ground out and an RBI-single by Ernie De la Trinidad. That was Patterson’s only rough inning and he left the game after six complete with the score 4-2 Oaks. Jacob Sylverster (Northridge) was the first Oaks reliever into the game and he got through the seventh unscathed but, in the eighth, when Ryan Bill (Cal Lutheran) came in, the Barons jumped on his pitches, recording four consecutive one-out hits to score twice on the last of them, a Martin Teague (Hope Int) single to tie the score 4-4. On the other side of the diamond and the relievers for Omana, first Joseph Mercado pitched a flawless seventh inning and Oscar Munoz struck out three in the eighth. But after getting the first out in the ninth inning, Munoz gave up the triple to Arledge, the sacrifice fly to Sanchez and suffered the loss. The Barons mounted a rally with two outs in the bottom of the ninth as Chris Kobar (Regis) advanced to first on a third strike that bounced to the backstop and Keyon Allen (UNLV) singled him into scoring position, but Oaks closer Logan Gillaspie (Oxnard JC), who came into the game in the eighth inning to relieve Bill and squashed the rally with the help of an acrobatic double-play turned by Sanchez who fielded a grounder at third, threw to Weinstein at second who fell while throwing to first, and Santana who picked the shorthopping throw at first, got De la Trinidad, the league’s leading hitter this summer, to fly out to center to end the game. What didn’t end up in this story of the game and won’t show up in the boxscore either was the spectacular defensive play of Barons outfielder Cody Den Beste (Prairie View A&M) and Oaks right fielder Chad Bible (San Diego St). Den Beste made two diving catches in right field tonight that stunned everyone who saw them, and Bible had one as equally amazing and a second over his shoulder that only he can explain how he caught it. See the boxscore/recap of this game here.

The 2016 CCL Playoff format and schedule can be viewed here.

July 27, 2016
San Luis Obispo, CA
For the second must-win game in as many days, the Conejo Oaks needed to walk a fine line between putting everything they had into winning a game to clinch the wildcard spot in the CCL playoffs this weekend and over-taxing their pitching staff so, if they got to the playoffs, they would be fresh enough to compete. And for the second game in a row the Oaks hitters took command of the game early so no pitcher would throw more than three innings and would easily be ready to go in the playoffs, which start Friday, if needed. Conejo racked up 18 hits, 17 singles and a double, and scored in every inning except one en route to a resounding 12-4 win over the San Luis Obispo Blues tonight at Sinsheimer Park. The win clinched a wildcard berth for the Oaks who will play the Academy Barons in the first round of the CCL playoffs 6pm Friday at the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton. As they have for most of the season, the Arkansas connection of Jake Arledge and Chad Spanberger led Conejo at the plate tonight. Arledge had five hits, scored three times and had an RBI, and Spanberger totaled four hits and a game-high four RBI. Dallas Tessar (Washington) with three hits, three runs scored and three RBI, and Cody Farhat (Texas Tech) with three hits, an RBI and two runs scored also had big games. With the win, the Oaks finish the regular season with a 21-15 record in CCL play, a game and a half ahead of the wildcard runner-up Healdsburg Prune Packers who lost their season finale tonight 3-2 to Neptune Beach and, if the results of both games had been reversed, would have inched ahead of the Oaks by mere percentage points and clinched the wildcard berth themselves. As for the Blues, who managed six hits versus the Oaks tonight, their biggest a two-run single by RJ Hassey, they finish the season with a 16-15 record. See the boxscore/recap of today’s game here.

Also in the CCL today:
Compton, CA
The Orange County Riptide and the Academy Barons split a doubleheader today at the MLB Urban Youth Academy in the regular season finale for both teams, the Riptide winning the opener 7-2 and the Barons winning the second game 15-1. Dillon Kelley (Chico St) homered for the second consecutive game, a two-run shot in the fifth, his sixth of the summer, and Aaron Pinto (Stony Brook) limited the potent Barons offense to two runs on three hits in six innings to earn the win in the opener. See the boxscore/recap of today’s 1st game here.
In the second game, the Barons bats came alive with league-leading RBI man Martin Teague (Hope Int) adding three more RBI on three hits, and Keyon Allen (UNLV) driving in three runs and scoring three times. Tyler Tungate (UNLV) held the Riptide scoreless over five innings to pick up the win. With the doubleheader split, the Barons finish the regular season with a CCL best 24-11 record and will face the Conejo Oaks, who clinched the wildcard berth with a 12-4 win in San Luis Obispo tonight, at 6pm Friday in the first round of the playoffs at the Academy. Orange County finishes its CCL season with a 17-19 record. See the boxscore/recap of today’s 2nd game here.

Ventura, CA
Bret Boswell (Texas) hit a two-run home run and Dylan Paul (Texas State) had a two-out two-run single in the top of the eleventh inning as the Santa Barbara Foresters beat the Ventura Halos 11-7 today at Ventura College. The extra-inning heroics by Santa Barbara erased the ninth inning heroics of Ventura’s Austin Russ (USC) who hit a dramatic bases loaded three-run double with two out in the inning to tie the score at 7-7. Boswell and Russ each had a game-high total of three RBI in a game that featured 17 different pitchers as both teams played out their regular season finale. With the win, the Foresters finish the regular season with a 21-12 record and will face the Neptune Beach Pearl at 2pm Friday in the first round of the CCL playoffs at the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton. Ventura finishes it season with a 12-23 record. See the boxscore/recap of today’s game here.

Palo Alto, CA
The Menlo Park Legends swept a season-ending doubleheader over the Walnut Creek Crawdads, winning 5-2 and 7-4 today at Baylands Park. RJ Williams (UT Arlington) had two doubles and scored twice, and Ryan Rosa drove in two runs with a single and a double to lead Menlo Park to the first win, and Miguel Pimentel (Lee U) had three hits, including a double, and Chandler Bengston (Columbia) had a double, single, and an RBI to highlight the second. The Legends finish the season with a 14-12 record, narrowly missing qualifying for the wildcard berth to the CCL playoffs this weekend by one game. The Crawdads, who lost a remarkable 20-straight CCL games to finish the season, end the summer with a 4-23 record. See the boxscore/recap of today’s 1st game here. See the boxscore/recap of today’s 2nd game here.

La Mirada, CA
Joey Notch (Long Beach St) hit a double and a triple, and John Montgomery (Eastern Michigan) and Paul Estrada (Utah Valley St) each had a pair of RBI as the Long Beach Legends finished their regular season on a high note, beating the Southern California Catch 11-2 today at Biola University. Biagio Shutt (Marymount) had five strikeouts over six innings and allowed only one run on three hits to earn the win for Long Beach. The Catch were led by Rawley Hughes (Biola), who hit a solo home run, and Christian Deaton (Cal St Bakersfield), who had two hits and an RBI. The Legends finish the season with a 15-21 record while the Catch end one game better at 16-20. See the boxscore/recap of today’s game here.

Oakland, CA
Walker Pennington (Texas A&M) hit a walk off home run as the Neptune Beach Pearl beat the Healdsburg Prune Packers 3-2 tonight in the regular season finale for both teams at Laney College. Details and statistics from this game were not available at post time, but the win secured Neptune Beach (17-9) the number two seed in the CCL playoffs Friday when they will meet the number three seed Santa Barbara Foresters at 2pm at the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton. With the loss, Healdsburg finishes CCL play at 14-12, a game behind the Conejo Oaks who clinched the wildcard spot with a 12-4 win today in San Luis Obispo.

July 26, 2016
Thousand Oaks, CA
The Conejo Oaks took one step closer to clinching the wildcard berth in the CCL playoffs Friday by beating the Southern California Catch 19-4 today at Sparky Anderson Field. Leading the wildcard race by a mere 17 percentage points over the Healdsburg Prune Packer and the Menlo Park Legends today’s contest was a must win game. And, with as many as five playoff games in three days looming this weekend should the Oaks qualify, the onus was on the hitters to jump out to a big lead so the Conejo pitching staff could be as fresh as possible for the playoffs. And jump out early they did. The Oaks scored nine runs in the first three innings in today’s game and starting pitcher Cody Thompson (San Diego St) was able to be pulled from the game after only four innings which would allow him to easily return to the mound this weekend during the playoffs should the Oaks call on him. After Thompson stranded two Catch runners on base without allowing a run in the top of the first inning the Oaks hitters had their chance to take command of the game. The first three hitters in the Oaks lineup singled and scored and Conejo had a lead they would not relinquish. In all, the Oaks hitters recorded 19 hits in the game, including seven doubles and a triple. Chad Spanberger (Arkansas) drove in a game-high four RBI on two doubles and a single, Kyle Sanchez (Cal) had a game-high five hits, including a double and three RBI, Jake Arledge (Arkansas) scored five runs and had three hits, Max Weinstein (Cal Lutheran) had three hits and two RBI, and Cody Farhat (Texas Tech) had two doubles and two RBI to lead the Oaks. The Catch, who were eliminated from wildcard contention Sunday, were led by the two-hit performances of Caleb Potter (West Virginia), Evan Sandmann (Dallas Bapist) and Nate Pecota (William Jewell). With the win, Conejo’s record in league play is 20-15 with one game remaining in the regular season, tomorrow at 6pm in San Luis Obispo. A Conejo win tomorrow or a loss by Healdsburg–who eliminated Menlo Park today with a 11-3 win–tomorrow at Neptune Beach clinches the wildcard berth for the Oaks. The Catch conclude their season tomorrow at home versus Long Beach and with the loss today their record stands at 16-19. See the boxscore/recap of today’s game here.

Also in the CCL today
Palo Alto, CA
The Healdsburg Prune Packers scored four runs in their first at bat in a must-win game against the Menlo Park Legends today at Baylands Park and, by scoring seven runs in their last five innings, won going away 11-3. The win kept Healdsburg’s playoff hopes alive and dashed Menlo Park’s. Both teams trail the Conejo Oaks in the wildcard race for the last berth to the CCL playoffs which start Friday at the MLB Urban Youth Academy and they both needed to win today and hope the Oaks would lose either today or tomorrow to have a chance at reaching the playoffs. Conejo, however, won big today at home, beating the Southern California Catch 19-4, so the loser of today’s matchup in Palo Alto would be eliminated from playoff contention. The Packers didn’t waste any time taking command of the game. The first five hitters they sent up reached base safely on four singles and a walk. The big hit was a two-out two-run double by Alex Larivee (Youngstown) that put the score at 4-0 before Menlo Park had a chance to hit. The Legends did score twice in their half of the first inning as Demsey Grover (UC Santa Barbara) doubled and later scored, Clayton Casey (Houston) drove in a run on a sacrifice fly, and Nick Brooks (Gonzaga) hit an RBI double, and they scored a run in the second on an RBI-single by Grover to get the score close at 4-3. But after both teams traded two scoreless at bats, Healdsburg scored twice in the fifth, once in the sixth and twice more in the seventh and ninth innings to win going away. Leadoff hitter Billy Wilson (Loyola Marymount) had a game-high four hits, including a triple, Jamey Smart (Loyola Marymount) had three hits, including a solo home run in the seventh inning, and Elias Orona (Northridge), Kenny Corey (UC Santa Barbara) and Larivee each had two hits and two RBI to lead Healdsburg. Grover finished with three hits to lead Menlo Park. With the win, Healdsburg now sits at 14-11 in league play with one game at Neptune Beach tomorrow remaining. The Packers need to win tomorrow and have Conejo lose in San Luis Obispo tomorrow to qualify as the wildcard team for the playoffs. With the loss, Menlo Park falls to 12-12. See the boxscore/recap of today’s game here.

Irvine, CA
Parker Joe Robinson (Texas) had seven strikeouts over five scoreless innings, Austin Boyles (TCU) had three over two scoreless innings, and Sean Wymer (TCU) had four in the final two as the Orange County Riptide pitchers led the way to a 5-3 victory over the Academy Barons today at Concordia University. Dillon Kelley (Chico St) hit his fifth home run of the summer, a two-run shot in the fifth inning, Tommy Bell (Cal Baptist) singled twice and scored twice, and Andrew Carillo (Chico St) had two hits and an RBI to lead the Orange County offense. The Barons, who scored all three of their runs in the ninth inning, were led offensively by Keyon Allen’s (UNLV) three hits. Both teams conclude their regular season tomorrow with a doubleheader at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. The Barons, with a league-best record of 23-10, is the number one seed in the playoffs beginning Friday at the Academy. The Riptide, with the win today, have a record of 16-18 but will miss the playoffs. See the boxscore/recap of today’s game here.

San Luis Obispo, CA
The San Luis Obispo Blues needed a win today and a series of unlikely events to take place elsewhere in the CCL to keep their hopes alive of making the playoffs Friday as the wildcard team. Starting pitcher Korey Anderson (Western Carolina) and left fielder Holden Morris (Penn) had stellar games in leading the Blues to a 7-1 win over the Ventura Halos today at Sinsheimer Park but, in Thousand Oaks, the Conejo Oaks won big in their game, 19-4 over the Southern California Catch, and the series of unlikely events that the Blues needed to avoid elimination from the playoffs was cut short to just one sobering event. The win by Conejo, who now have a record of 20-15 and will visit the Blues tomorrow in the regular season finale for both teams, dashed any hopes that the Blues, 16-14, could overtake the Oaks with a win tomorrow and qualify as the wildcard team by having a better winning percentage. And, with all these ramifications far from resolved by game time today, Anderson and Morris made sure the Blues did their part. Anderson recorded nine strikeouts and allowed only two hits over seven innings of work while Morris drove in five runs on three hits, including a bases-loaded triple in the sixth inning, and scored the other two Blues runs to lead San Luis Obispo to the victory. Connor Newell (George Fox) added two hits and Luke Eigsti (Alabama Birmingham) scored twice to also post solid games for the Blues. Ventura got a good performance from Derek Rodigo (Westmont) who had two of the only three Halo hits in the game. See the boxscore/recap of today’s game here.

The 2016 CCL Playoff format and schedule can be viewed here.

July 24, 2016
Santa Barbara, CA
The Santa Barbara Foresters had a pair of five-run innings and four Foresters pitchers combined for seven strikeouts with only one walk to hold the San Luis Obispo Blues to one run as Santa Barbara clinched the CCL Central Division title and a berth to the CCL playoffs with a 12-1 win today at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Four Foresters hitters had three-hit games and Brett Boswell (Texas) hit his second home run of the day (See post of earlier game just below), a solo shot in the sixth, to lead Santa Barbara. Boswell finished with a game-high three RBI, while Lex Kaplan (Tulane), Hunter Stovall (Mississippi State) and Matt Henderson (Florida State) each had two RBI and each were part of the three-hit quartet. Trevor Abrams (Sonoma St) was the fourth member of the team to have three hits. Connor Mayes (Texas) pitched five scoreless innings to earn the win. The Blues only run came on a solo home run by Harrison Bragg (Mississippi St) in the seventh inning. With the win, Santa Barbara improves its record to 20-12, good for second place overall in the CCL, three games behind the Academy Barons who clinched the best record in the CCL this summer with a win today at home. The Foresters now know they will meet the Neptune Beach Pearl in the playoffs. Game time will be 12pm Friday July 29 at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. With the loss, the Blues fall to 15-14 and, with only two games remaining, they would have to win both of their remaining games and get a lot of help from the other contenders to have a shot at the wildcard berth.

Prior to today’s regularly scheduled game the Blues and Foresters resumed their contest from June 22 that had been suspended because of darkness with the game tied 2-2 after 12 innings. It took four more innings today for the game to be settled and it was Holden Morris’s (Penn) three-run home run with two out in the top of the 16th that was the decider as the Blues went on to win 5-4. Brett Boswell (Texas) hit a home run to lead off Santa Barbara’s half of the 16th, and the Foresters got within one after Tyler Adkison (San Diego St) scored on a two-out double off the bat of Hunter Stovall (Mississippi State) but Blues pitcher Ethan Abrams (Columbia) struck the next batter out to earn the win. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Compton, CA
The Academy Barons erupted for eight runs in the sixth inning to blow open a 1-0 game and went on to beat the Southern California Catch 9-4 today at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. The win, which improved the Academy’s record in league play to 23-9, seals the Barons position as the number one seed in the CCL Playoffs next weekend at the Academy and assures them that they will finish with the top record in the league. The Barons now know they will play the 4pm game on Friday July 29 and will meet the wildcard winner in the first round of the CCL playoffs. With the loss, the Catch fall to 16-18 and have been eliminated from contention for the wildcard spot in the playoffs. In the sixth inning today the Barons sent up eleven hitters to the plate and scored the eight runs on three walks, three singles, a double, a hit batsmen, two errors by Catch fielders and a sacrifice fly. James Stea (Valparaison) and Jonah Dean-Hargroves (Jackson St) each had two-RBI hits in the inning. Kyle Murray started on the mound for the Barons and earned the win, pitching six scoreless innings while striking out five. Robert Bultena (Orange Coast College) had two hits and scored twice, and Zach Malis (Grand Canyon) had two hits to lead the Catch. See the boxscore/recap here.

Long Beach, CA
Cassius Hamm (El Camino College) pitched a perfect final four innings of the Orange County Riptide’s victory over the Long Beach Legends today and Jacob Portaro (Utah) drove in Laine Huffman (Long Beach St) with the winning run in the ninth inning to give the Riptide a 2-1 win in the first half of a doubleheader between the two clubs at Long Beach City College. Hamm, who entered the game in relief of starter Wyatt Wood (Azusa Pacific), who had five strikeouts and allowed Long Beach’s only two hits for the game in his five innings of work, faced the minimum 12 batters in the last four innings and struck out six. Josh Aguilar (Citrus JC) had a strong start on the mound for Long Beach, throwing five scoreless innings and recording four strikeouts before turning the ball over to Cole Leaf (UCLA) who allowed both Orange County’s runs and suffered the loss while striking out four. See the boxscore/recap here.
In the second game of the doubleheader today, Joe Van Marter (Houston Baptist) had three hits, John Montgomery (Eastern Michigan) drove in two runs, and Chris Ford (Norfolk St) had two hits and scored twice to lead Long Beach to a 7-3 win. Montgomery’s two RBI brings his season total to 32 in CCL play, good for second place on the RBI leaders board, three behind league leader Martin Teague’s (Academy Barons, Hope Int) total of 35. Griffin Barnes (Grand Canyon) had two hits, an RBI and a run scored to lead the Riptide in thesecond game. See the boxscore/recap here.

Thousand Oaks, CA
The Conejo Oaks scored six runs in the seventh inning to overcome a 5-4 deficit to the Ventura Halos, and went on to beat the Halos 10-8 today at Sparky Anderson Field. Corey Pool (UNLV) had the big hit for the Oaks in the seventh, a two-run home run, that led the Oaks back after the Halos scored three times in the top half of the inning to take the lead. Chad Spanberger (Arkansas) also homered for the Oaks, his league-best 11th of the summer. Mike Volaski (Rider) had two hits, including a home run, and two RBI, and Brendan Griffith (Clark JC) had three hits and three runs driven in to pace the Halos. The win keeps the Oaks playoff hopes alive. At 19-15 in CCL play with two games remaining, the Oaks can only clinch the wildcard berth in the playoffs next weekend at the MLB Urban Youth Academy by winning both of their remaining games. If they lose once more they will need help. With the loss, Ventura falls to 12-20. See the boxscore/recap here.

The 2016 CCL Playoff format and schedule can be viewed here.

July 23, 2016
Santa Barbara, CA
The Santa Barbara Foresters shaved one game off their magic number to clinch the CCL Central Division title and receive an automatic berth to the CCL playoffs next weekend by blanking the San Luis Obispo Blues 8-0 tonight at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Kevin Johnston (Texas) started and pitched seven scoreless innings, scattering five hits while striking out six, Hunter Stovall (Mississippi St) hit a three-run home run in the second inning, and Brett Boswell (Texas) added three hits to lead the Foresters. The win improved Santa Barbara’s record in league play to 19-11 and decreases their magic number to clinch the division to one with three games remaining in their regular season schedule. With today’s loss the Blues fall to 14-13, three and a half games back of the Foresters in the chase for the division title with four games left to be decided on their schedule, but only one game behind the Conejo Oaks, who won today in Ventura, for the wildcard race. Two games between the Blues and Foresters will be decided tomorrow as the June 22 game between the two teams that was suspended because of darkness with the score tied 2-2 will be completed prior to the regularly scheduled game in Santa Barbara. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Ventura, CA
The Conejo Oaks overcame a 3-1 deficit with two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to beat the Ventura Halos 4-3 today at Ventura College. The win moved the Oaks into the lead of the wildcard race lead with an 18-15 record, percentage points better than the Healdsburg Prune Packers and Menlo Park Legends, both of whom won tonight. Isaiah Campbell (Arkansas) started on the mound for Conejo and had eight strikeouts and didn’t allow a walk over six innings of work. Campbell did allow three runs to the Halos in his last inning, a hot and cold sixth where he had three strikeouts but allowed five singles, so did not figure in the decision. In the seventh inning Chad Spanberger (Arkansas) led off with his third triple of the summer and scored on an fly out by Chad Bible (San Diego St), and Codi Santana (Hawaii Pacific) singled and then scored on a Max Weinstein (Cal Lutheran) double to tie the score. In the next inning Bible came through again, this time with a two-out single that scored Jake Arledge (Arkansas) who had singled earlier. Joe Torres (Glendale JC) was the pitcher of record for the Oaks today, earning the win by pitching a scoreless seventh inning, and Robby Medel (Arizona) pitched the final two innings, holding the Halos scoreless while striking out three, to earn the save. The Halos, who got a two-RBI game from Mike Volaski (Rider), fall to 12-20 with the loss. See the boxscore/recap here.

Irvine, CA
The first place Academy Barons split a doubleheader today with the Southern California Catch, trading 4-3 scores, the Barons winning the opener and the Catch winning the nightcap. Jonah Dean-Hargroves (Jackson St) singled to lead off the seventh inning and scored what would prove to be the winning run after advancing to third on an error and then scoring on a passed ball. Henry Omana (Cal Poly Pomona) was the starting pitcher for the Academy but did not figure in the decision, coming out of the game after allowing three runs on seven hits with four strikeouts. Reece Buska relieved Omana in the sixth and pitched a scoreless inning and a third to pick up the win. Jimmy Gallarda (Biola) went the distance on the mound for the Catch (seven innings), allowing six hits with two strikeouts to suffer the loss. Caleb Potter (West Virginia) hit his fourth home run of the summer, and Rawley Hughes (Biola) had two hits to lead the Catch offense. See the boxscore/recap here.
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Catch took and early 3-0 lead against the Academy and, then, after scoring another run in the seventh, held off the second ninth inning Barons rally of the day to win 4-3. Catch closer Nick Wernke (West Virgina) earned the save by pitching the ninth and was, at first, let down by the defense behind him as an error let the lead-off hitter get on base and eventually score, and then saved by the defense as the tying run was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Christian Deaton (Cal St Bakersfield) to end the game. Josh Barrick (Liberty U) had three hits, including a double, and an RBI, Zach Malis (Grand Canyon) had two hits and drove in two runs, and Josh Rojas (Hawaii) had two hits and scored twice to lead the Catch offense. James Stea (Valparaiso) and Sam Shaikin (Valparaiso) each had two hits to lead the Barons. See the boxscore/recap here.
With a split of the doubleheader the Barons record moves to 22-9 and the record for the Catch now stands at 16-17. Having already clinched the CCL South Division title, the Barons are automatically in the CCL playoffs. The Catch, however, fell slightly behind in their quest for a wildcard berth to the playoffs as the Conejo Oaks, the current wildcard leader, won earlier today.

Healdsburg, CA
Steve Wilson (Santa Clara), Jordan Scheftz and Andrew Vaughn (Cal) had a combined 15 strikeouts as the Healdsburg Prune Packers shutout the Walnut Creek Crawdads 2-0 tonight at Recreation Park. The win keeps the Packers’ wildcard hopes alive. At 13-11 in league play, they trail the Conejo Oaks, who also won tonight, by three percentage points with two league games left on the Healdsburg schedule. Both of Healdsburg’s remaining CCL games, Tuesday at Menlo Park and Wednesday at Neptune Beach will be must win games. If the Packers were to win only one of these two games, the Conejo Oaks would have to lose two of their last three for the Packers to qualify as the wildcard team for the playoffs next weekend in Compton. And, if the game they lose is the one against Menlo Park, and Menlo Park goes on to win its three remaining games, then the Legends will be the wildcard team. San Luis Obispo and the Southern California Catch also have paths to cinch up the wildcard slot. But, tonight, Healdsburg did what it needed to do. Billy Wilson (Loyola Marymount) led the bottom of the first inning off with a single and, after stealing second base, scored on single by Dan James (USF). The Packers then waited until the seventh inning to get an insurance run when Tyler Meditz (Santa Clara) led the inning off with a single, moved to second on a single by Jamey Smart (Loyola Marymount) and scored on a Kenny Corey (UC Santa Barbara) single. Corey finished the game with a game-high three hits, one a double. See the boxscore/recap here.

Oakland, CA
The Menlo Park Legends kept their hopes alive for a wildcard berth in the CCL playoffs next weekend in Compton with a 1-0 win over the Neptune Beach Pearl tonight at Laney College. Details of the game were not available at post time but the win improves the Legends record in CCL play to 12-11, a game and a half behind the wildcard leading Conejo Oaks who won in Ventura tonight. With three league games remaining on their schedule, Menlo Park faces a must win in each as Conejo, also with three games remaining, would have to lose at least once for an opportunity to open up for the Legends. If the Legends were to lose just once more, than a series of events would have to turn just right for them to reach the playoffs. Neptune Beach, however, clinched the CCL North Division title last night and are assured a spot in the playoffs.

Irvine, CA
Tommy Bell (Cal Baptist) hit a two-run double in the first inning, Dillon Kelley (Chico St) hit a solo home run in the fifth and JJ Carr had an RBI-double in the seventh to lead the Orange County Riptide to a 5-3 win over the Long Beach Legends today at Concordia University. Carr, Kelley and Laine Huffman (Long Beach St) each had two hits to lead the Riptide. Long Beach got a three-hit performance from Joe Van Marter (Houston Baptist), and two hits each from Paul Estrada (Utah Valley St) and Nathan Keavy (Loyola Marymount), all three of whom hit a double. The win sets the Orange County record in CCL play at 14-17 and, with the loss, Long Beach falls to 13-20. See the boxscore/recap here.

The 2016 CCL Playoff format and schedule can be viewed here.