July 22, 2016
San Luis Obispo, CA
San Luis Obispo Blues starting pitcher Brendan Nail (Western Carolina) allowed only one run and had seven strikeouts over five innings against the Santa Barbara Foresters tonight, and the Blues hitters strung together four consecutive singles to score two runs in the seventh inning to break a 2-2 tie and went on to win 4-2 at Sinsheimer Park. The Blues and Foresters traded one-run innings in the fourth, fifth and sixth before Holden Morris (Penn), Blake Johnson (Alabama Birmingham), Garrett Dodd (Louisiana Tech) and Gene Wood (Alabama) went on their four consecutive hit spree. Wood and Walt Hogan (Hendrix) each had two hits and an RBI to lead the Blues tonight. The Foresters got a nice outing from starting pitcher Matt Hartman (Arizona) who had nine strikeouts in five innings, but he did allow the first two Blues runs on three hits and did not figure in the decision, and Lex Kaplan (Tulane) had three hits, one a double, to lead Santa Barbara. The victory by the Blues tightened the race for both the CCL Central Division and the wildcard berths to the CCL playoffs next weekend. Improving to 14-12, the Blues lead the wildcard chase by a mere seven percentage points over the Conejo Oaks, who also won today, and trail the Foresters for the Central Division title and an automatic berth to the playoffs, by two and a half games. The Foresters record fell to 18-11 and, with four games left to be decided in their regular season, their magic number to clinch a playoff spot remains at two. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Thousand Oaks, CA
Gabe Gunter (Cal Lutheran) hit a two-run home run in the third inning, a two-run double in the fourth, and Codi Santana (Hawaii Pacific) hit a two-run homer in the fifth as the Conejo Oaks beat the Ventura Halos 12-5 at Sparky Anderson Field. Both Gunter and Santana finished with a game-high four RBI, Santana adding two singles to go with his home run, and Jake Arledge (Arkansas) scored three runs without getting a hit today as he had the dubious distinction of reaching base three times by way of getting hit by a pitch. Ray Diaz (Northridge) started on the mound for Conejo and recorded eight strikeouts over five innings to earn the win. Ventura got a nice performance offensively from the top of their order as leadoff hitter Ben Skinner (Harvard) had two hits, an RBI and a run scored, and Kaleb Murphy (USC) got three hits and scored twice. The victory by the Oaks tightened the race for both the CCL Central Division and the wildcard berths to the CCL playoffs next weekend. Improving to 17-15, the Oaks trail the San Luis Obispo Blues, who beat the Santa Barbara Foresters 4-2 tonight, by a mere seven percentage points for the wildcard berth, and trail the Foresters for the Central Division title and an automatic berth to the playoffs, by two and a half games. See the boxscore/recap here.

Compton, CA
The Southern California Catch had 19 hits, six of them doubles, and scored nine runs in the third inning en route to pounding the Academy Barons 16-2 tonight at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. Four Catch hitters had three-hit games tonight and Josh Rojas (Hawaii), Sam Mrstik (Dallas Baptist) and Nate Pecota (William Jewell) each had doubles, Mrstik twice, and each drove in three runs. On the mound, four Catch pitchers combined to limit the Barons offense to three hits, led by James Goodwin (Biola) who pitched three shutout innings to pick up the win. The result of the game may have been inconsequential to the Barons who clinched the CCL South Division title last night and have an automatic berth in the playoffs next weekend but, for the Catch, the win tonight keeps their wildcard hopes alive. At 15-16, the Catch trail the San Luis Obispo Blues in the wildcard race by one and a half games with five games remaining. With the loss, the Barons fall to 21-8, two games ahead of the Neptune Beach Pearl who won today, for the top spot in the CCL standings. See the today’s boxscore/recap here.

Oakland, CA
The Neptune Beach Pearl clinched the CCL North Division title and an automatic berth to the CCL playoffs next weekend with a 6-2 win over the Walnut Creek Crawdads tonight at Laney College. Game and player stats were not available at post time but the win improves the Pearl’s record to 16-8, three games better than the Healdsburg Prune Packers, who were idle in CCL play tonight, with two games remaining.

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

July 21, 2016
Long Beach, CA
Cody Den Beste (Prairie View A&M) had an RBI-double in the second inning, a two-run double in the seventh, and Martin Teague (Hope Int) hit a two-run home run in the third as the Academy Barons beat the Long Beach Legends 7-4 today at Long Beach City College. Today’s win, the third in as many days against the Legends, improves the Barons’ league record to a CCL-best 21-7 and, with seven games to go in the regular season, the Barons lead against the three other teams in the CCL South Division is now eight games or more, meaning the Academy has clinched the division title and have earned an automatic berth to the CCL playoffs July 29-31. Adonis Morrison had two hits and an RBI tonight to join Den Beste and Teague in leading the Barons offense. John Montgomery (Eastern Michigan) hit a two-run single in the fifth inning, increasing his season’s RBI total to 29, two behind Teague’s CCL-best 31, and Paul Estrada (Utah Valley St) had two hits and two RBI to lead Long Beach tonight. With the loss, the Legends fall to 13-19. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Santa Barbara, CA
Zach Esquivel (Rice) threw six scoreless innings, striking out six, and Hunter Williams (Tulane) had a pair of RBI-doubles as the Santa Barbara Foresters beat the Conejo Oaks 5-1 today at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. The win improves Santa Barbara’s record in the CCL to 18-10, three and a half games better than the Oaks and the San Luis Obispo Blues in the race for the CCL Central Division title and an automatic berth to the CCL playoffs July 29-31. With five games left in the regular season, the magic number for the Foresters to clinch a spot in the playoffs is now two. Matt Henderson (Florida St) had a two-run double in the third inning, and Brett Boswell (Texas) had an RBI-single to join Williams in leading the Foresters offense. Chad Bible (San Diego St) and Dallas Tessar (Washington) each tripled in today’s game, and Kyle Sanchez (Cal) doubled and had the only RBI for Conejo. With the loss, the Oaks fall to 16-15 and are tied with San Luis Obispo and Healdsburg, both idle in league today, for the wildcard berth in the playoffs. See the boxscore/recap here.

Palo Alto, CA
The Neptune Beach Pearl only scored in three innings in their matchup with the Menlo Park Legends today at Baylands Park, but when they did score they scored big. With a five-run sixth inning and a four-run ninth, the Pearl still needed a three-run eleventh to settle a 12-9 win over the Legends. Andrew Bryniarski (Regis) figured prominently in each of the Pearl’s big innings, hitting a bases loaded three-run double in the sixth inning, a two-run double in the ninth and a solo home run in the eleventh. Renae Martinez (Oklahoma) homered right before Bryniarski in the eleventh to provide what would be the winning run, but Bryniarski’s six RBI was the story of the game. On the other side of the diamond for Menlo Park, Chandler Bengston (Columbia) matched up with Bryniarski’s performance in almost every degree. Bengston forced a run home with a walk in the first inning, had a solo home run in the fourth, an RBI-double in the sixth and a bases-clearing three-run double in the seventh to match Bryniarski with six RBI for the game. Noah Gotsis (Regis) started on the mound for Neptune Beach today, striking out six in six innings, and reliever Blake Peters (UC Davis) had four strikeouts in the last two and a third innings to pick up the win. Ryan Lefner (Saint Louis) had six strikeouts in three-plus innings of relief for Menlo Park, but allowed seven runs to suffer the loss. Today’s win improved Neptune Beach’s record in CCL play to 15-8, second best in the CCL, and increased their lead in the CCL North Division to three over the Healdsburg Prune Packers, who were idle in CCL play today. With three league games remaining, the magic number for the Pearl to clinch a playoff berth is now one. With the loss, Menlo Park falls to 11-11, three and a half games behind the Pearl but only a half-game back of three other teams for the wildcard berth in the playoffs. See the boxscore/recap here.

Irvine, CA
Tommy Bell (Cal Baptist) had five RBI on five hits, including his fifth home run of the summer, and Dillon Kelley (Chico St) had six RBI on three hits, including a pair of doubles, as the Orange County Riptide beat the Southern California Catch in a slugfest today at Biola University 20-11. The Riptide finished the game with 20 hits and had four hitters with three or more hits in the game. They had seven extra-base hits, had five innings when they scored three or more runs and posted an 11-0 lead after three and a half innings. Chase Goldwater (Mississippi St) and Jake Hazard (UC Irvine) each had three hits and two RBI to join with Bell and Kelley in leading the Orange County onslaught. Josh Barrick (Liberty U) hit a three-run home run in the third inning, and Josh Rojas (Hawaii), Robert Bultena (Orange Coast College) and Jacob Hathaway (USF) each had three hits to lead the Catch. With today’s result, Orange County improved its record in CCL play to 13-17, while the Catch fell to 14-16. See the boxscore/recap here.

July 20, 2016
Palo Alto, CA
RJ Williams (UT Arlington) and Dempsey Grover (UC Santa Barbara) hit back to back home runs to lead off the game for the Menlo Park Legends, and Clayton Casey (Houston) and Nick Brooks (Gonzaga), the number three and four hitters in the Legends lineup, then hit back-to-back triples as Menlo Park pounded the Walnut Creek Crawdads right from the start en route to a 12-2 blowout tonight at Baylands Park. The Legends scored 11 runs in their first four at bats, most of the damage coming from the first four hitters in their lineup mentioned above who combined to go 10-for-15 in the game with eight runs scores and seven runs driven in between them. The run support was more than enough for starting pitcher Alex Hernandez (Fordham), who threw four shutout innings with seven strikeouts to earn the win. Miguel Pimentel (Lee U), the number eight hitter in the lineup, also had a nice game, adding two doubles and two runs scored to the Menlo Park attack. With the win, Menlo Park trades places with the Healdsburg Prune Packers, who lost tonight, and, at 11-10, are just a half game behind the Conejo Oaks for the wildcard berth to the CCL playoffs. Falling to 4-19, the loss tonight was the Crawdads 16th straight loss in CCL play. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Compton, CA
With the score tied at 3-3 Grant Craddolph (Cal St LA) hit a one-out double in the bottom of the ninth inning and the next batter, James Stea (Valparaiso), hit a run-scoring single as the Academy Barons had a 4-3 walk-off win over the Long Beach Legends tonight at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. The win improves the Barons record atop the CCL to 20-7, three games ahead of second place Santa Barbara who was idle tonight, and, with eight games remaining, reduces the Academy’s magic number for clinching at least the wildcard spot in the CCL playoffs to three. The Legends and Barons traded single runs in the first and second innings tonight, and then traded two-run innings in the fifth and sixth to setup the 3-3 tie situation in the ninth. Aaron Cisneros (UC Riverside) had a two-run double in the sixth, and Sam Shaikin (Valparaiso) had two hits and the other RBI to lead the Barons. Aaron Case had a double, single, an RBI and a run scored to lead Long Beach. The loss moves Long Beach’s record in CCL play to 13-18. See the boxscore/recap here.

San Luis Obispo, CA
Korey Andrson (Western Carolina) had eight strikeouts over six shutout innings to lead the San Luis Obispo Blues to a 3-1 win over the Ventura Halos tonight at Sinsheimer Park. The win keeps San Luis Obispo very much in the playoff picture at the end of the month. At 13-12 in league play, the Blues are a half game back of the Conejo Oaks, who were idle tonight, for the wildcard spot. The Blues had nine hits in the game tonight, all singles, and were led by Blake Johnson’s (Alabama Birmingham) two hits and two RBI, Garrett Dodd’s (Louisiana Tech) two hits and one RBI, and Niko Pacheco (Cal St Fullerton) who also had two hits. Austin Russ (USC) had a double, a single and drove in Ventura’s only run to lead the Halos. With the loss tonight, the Halos fall to 12-18. See the boxscore/recap here.

Irvine, CA
An RBI-triple by Tommy Bell (Cal Baptist) and RBI-doubles by Jacon Portaro (Utah) and Chase Goldwater (Mississippi St) in the third inning today put the Orange County Riptide in front for good in their 7-4 win over the Southern California Catch at Concordia University. Bell finished the game with three RBI, and Dillon Kelley (Chico St) doubled and scored twice to lead the Riptide, who improved their record in CCL play to 12-17. The Catch, who fall to 14-15, got multiple-hit games from Caleb Potter (West Virgina), who had two singles and two RBI in the game, and Johnny Weeks (Hawaii), who added a double and a single. See the boxscore/recap here.

July 19, 2106
Long Beach, CA
The Academy Barons scored four times in the top of the ninth inning to erase a 4-1 deficit and beat the Long Beach Legends 5-4 today at Long Beach City College. Martin Teague (Hope Int) doubled in the go-ahead run with two outs after Sam Shakin (Valparaiso) tripled home a run and scored on a wild pitch and a third run scored on an error. Teague had a second double earlier in the game and another RBI to increase his league-leading totals in both catagories to 10 and 29 respectively. Kyle Murray had seven strikeouts in the first six innings today before turning the pitching duties over to Oscar Munoz who pitched the seventh and eighth inning to pick up the win, and Reece Buska who stranded the tying run on base in the ninth inning to earn the save. The win improved the league-leading Barons to 19-7, two and a half games ahead of Santa Barbra, who also won today, with eight games remaining. With today’s loss Long Beach falls to 13-17 in leaue, eight games behind the Academy. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Ventura, CA
The Santa Barbara Foresters scored four two-out runs in their first at bat and three Foresters pitchers combined to limit the Ventura Halos to three hits while striking out ten as Santa Barbara beat Ventura 8-1 today at Ventura College. Bret Boswell’s (Texas) two-run triple followed by Tyler Adkison’s (San Diego St) two-run homer were enough for pitchers Tanner Lawson (Houston), six innings and five strikeouts; Ryan Shetter (Texas Tech), two no-hit innings with three strikeouts; and Max Gibbs (Cal St Fullerton) a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts. Adkison added another hit and RBI, Dylan Paul (Texas State) had three hits and an RBI, and Hank Lo Forte (Cal St Fullerton) had two hits and two RBI to lead the Foresters. With the win Santa Barbara improved its record in league play to 17-10 and stays within striking distance, two and half games back, of the Academy Barons for the top spot in the CCL standings. The loss moves Ventura to 12-17. See the boxscore/recap here.

San Luis Obispo, CA
Baseball is crazy sometimes. Today in San Luis Obispo, the home team Blues needed to resume a suspended game against the Conejo Oaks before the two teams could play their regularly scheduled match up. The Blues, who were the visitors in the suspended game, came to bat today trailing 11-8 with a runner on base and promptly scored five runs to take a 13-11 lead. Crazy, right? But then the Oaks, the home team because the suspended game was played last Thursday at their home park, had their turn at bat and promptly scored three runs to win the game 14-13. It was so crazy the scorekeeper or the stats program itself, apparently had a hard time keeping up, so the details are foggy. But you can see the boxscore/recap here.
In the regularly scheduled game today between the Blues and Oaks, Wyatt Hogan (Hendrix) hit a two-run double in the sixth inning and RJ Hassey scored the go-ahead run on an error in the eighth as San Luis Obispo beat the Oaks 5-4. Blake Johnson (Alabama Birmingham) and Andrew Garretson (Cal St San Marcos) had the other two RBI for the Blues. Jake Arledge (Arkansas) had two hits, including a three-run home run, to lead the Oaks. The two-game split sets the Blues record in league play at 12-12 and the Oaks at 16-14, both teams just percentage points behind the Healdsburg Prune Packers for the wildcard berth in the CCL playoffs. See the boxscore/recap here.

Palo Alto, CA
The Healdsburg Prune Packers outhit the Menlo Park Legends 16 to six today in a match up of CCL North Division rivals but they needed to score one run in the top of the ninth inning to secure a 6-5 win at Baylands Park. Eli Elias hit a one-out triple and scored on an RBI-single by Jamey Smart (Loyola Marymount) to score the go-ahead run in the ninth. It was the third hit for both Elias and Smart in the game, Elias finishing with three runs scored and Smart with two runs driven in, and Jake MacNichols (Santa Clara) also had three hits, including a solo home run in the fourth inning to lead the Packers. Clayton Casey (Houston) had a two-run home run in the sixth inning and Nick Brooks (Gonzaga) and Ryan McCarthy (Santa Clara) hit back-to-back solo home runs in the eighth to keep Menlo Park close. With the win Healdsburg improves to 12-10 in league play, percentage points ahead of the Conejo Oaks for the wildcard berth to the CCL playoffs. Menlo Park falls to 10-10. See the boxscore/recap here.

La Mirada, CA
The Southern California Catch scored 14 runs in their first four at bats, nine coming in the third inning alone, as the Catch beat the Orange County Riptide 14-8 today at Biola University. The Catch took advantage of four walks in the third inning by adding a double and four singles to score the nine runs. Caleb Potter (West Virgina) started the Catch’s offensive onslaught by hitting a three-run home run in the first inning and Nate Pecota (William Jewell) continued it with a solo homer in the second. Potter finished the game with two hits and four RBI, Pecota with two runs scored and two RBI, and Sam Mrstik (Dallas Baptist) had two hits and two RBI to lead the Catch. Tommy Bell (Cal Baptist) hit a three-run home run in the third inning, Dillon Kelley (Chico State) hit a two-run home run in he fifth, and Cassius Hamm (El Camino College) had five strikeouts in two innings pitched to lead the Riptide. With the win, the Catch improve their record in league play to 14-14, percentage points behind the Healdsburg Prune Packers for the wildcard berth to the CCL playoffs. Orange County falls to 11-17. See the boxscore/recap here.

July 17, 2016
San Luis Obispo, CA
A night after the Southern California Catch were shutout 5-0 by the San Luis Obispo Blues the Catch turned the tables and blanked the Blues 3-0 today behind the pitching of Jimmy Gallarda (Biola), Daniel Jang (Biola) and Nick Wernke (West Virginia). Gallarda, who represented the Catch in the CCL All-Star Game Wednesday, started and pitched seven innings, working around four hits and three walks while striking out four, before giving way to Jang and Wernke, who worked one inning each, Wernke recording two of his three outs by way of strikeouts. Johnny Weeks (Hawaii) had three hits, including a double, two runs scored and an RBI, and Caleb Potter (West Virginia) had a single and a double to lead the Catch. Six San Luis Obispo hitters had hits, all singles. With the win, the Catch improved their record in league play to 13-14. The Blues fall to 11-11. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Santa Barbara, CA
Connor Mayes (Texas) pitched six shutout innings and four Santa Barbara hitters had multiple-hit games as the Foresters beat the Conejo Oaks 8-1 today in a matchup of CCL Central Division rivals at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Mayes, who represented the Foresters in the CCL All-Star Game on Wednesday, scattered five hits, struck out two and did not allow a walk before turning the pitching duties over to another All-Star, Cody Crouse (Tampa) who recorded three strikeouts and two hits in three innings of work. Hunter Williams (Tulane), Hank LoForte (Cal St Fullerton), Steven Coe (UC San Diego) and Tyler Adkinson (San Diego St) each had two hits in the game as the Foresters scored in five of the first six innings to take command of the game. The win moves Santa Barbara two games ahead of the Oaks in the race for the Central Division title and an automatic bid in the CCL playoffs less that two weeks away, and gives the Foresters a 16-10 record, two and a half games behind the first place Academy Barons who were idle today. With the loss, Conejo falls to 15-13, a half game ahead of the idle Menlo Park Legends for the wildcard spot in the playoffs. See the boxscore/recap here.

Healdsburg, CA
Tyler Meditz (Santa Clara) hit a two-run triple in the fifth inning and Michael Russo (Northridge) hit a two-run homer in the sixth as the Healdsburg Prune Packers turned what was a close-scoring game into a blowout, beating the Walnut Creek Crawdads 10-2 in the first half of a doubleheader between the two teams today at Recreation Park. Kenny Corey (UC Santa Barbara) hat two hits and scored three times, and Jake MacNichols (Santa Clara) drove in two runs on two hits for the Healdsburg offense. Andrew Vaughn (Cal) started on the mound for the Pakcers, pitching four shutout innings and recording four strikeouts, before handing the ball to CCL All-Star Jordan Scheftz who also had four strikeouts in his two-plus innings of work. Phillip Caufield (Loyola Marymount) had a two-for-two game, including a double and an RBI to lead Walnut Creek. See the boxscore/recap here.
In the second game of the doubleheader in Healdsburg Corey hit a two-out two-run single in the first inning and Jamey Smart (Loyola Marymount) did the same in the second as the Packers jumped out to an early 5-1 lead en route to beating the Crawdads for the second time today 9-1. Smart added another single and RBI, Corey added another hit, and Elias Orona (Northridge) had two hits and scored three times to pace the Packers. Steven Wilson (Santa Clara) started on the mound and recorded six strikeouts in four innings to lead the pitching staff. See the boxscore/recap here. With the doubleheader sweep Healdsburg improves to 12-10 in league play, two and a half games back of the Neptune Beach Pearl in the chase for the CCL North Division title and an automatic bid to the CCL playoffs, and percentage points ahead of the Conejo Oaks for the wildcard spot in the playoffs. Walnut Creek, which has lost its last 15 straight league contests, falls to 4-18.

July 16, 2016
San Luis Obispo
Joe Leinhard (Oklahoma State) and Korey Anderson (Western Carolina) combined for 13 strikeouts and nine shutout innings as the San Luis Obispo Blues blanked the Southern California Catch tonight 5-0 at Sinsheimer Park. Leinhard started and earned the win on the mound for the Blues, allowing two hits while striking out nine before handing the ball to Anderson who picked up right where Leinhard left off, throwing two shutout innings and fanning four. Niko Pacheco (Cal St Fullerton) had two hits and two RBI, Wyatt Hogan (Hendrix) had two hits with one RBI, and Garrett Dodd (Louisiana Tech) had two hits, one a double, to lead the Blues, who improve their record in league play to 11-10. The Catch, who managed only four baserunners for the game, fell to 12-14. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Thousand Oaks, CA
Kyle Sanchez (Cal) had a walk-off walk with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the tenth inning, forcing home Thomas Rowan (UC Santa Barbara) with the game-winning run as the Conejo Oaks beat the Santa Barbara Foresters 4-3 today at Sparky Anderson Field. Issuing walks in the tenth inning was both a strategy and the downfall for the Foresters in the inning. With the score tied at 3-3, Santa Barbara reliever Blake Smith (Mississippi St) issued a leadoff walk to Colton Burns (UC Santa Barbara) and, during the next at bat when Smith was getting a strikeout for the first out, Burns stole second base and moved on to third on a pass ball. The Foresters then substituted a fifth infielder for one of their outfielders and intentionally walked the next two batters to set up a possible inning-ending double play. Smith did dodge the first do-or-die situation, forcing a groundout to the first baseman who recorded the force out at the plate for the second out, but in the second situation Smith walked Sanchez and the game was over. Jacob Patterson (Texas Tech) was the real pitching story of the game. The left handed pitcher, who came into relieve starter Isaiah Campbell (Arkansas) in the sixth inning, had nine strikeouts in four innings of work, but he did allow the tying run to score in the top of the ninth inning as Matt Henderson (Florida St) got to him with a two-out RBI-single. Terrell Tate (Hawaii) had a three-for-three day and drove in two runs to lead the Oaks’ offense. Hank LoForte (Cal St Fullerton) had a hit and two RBI to lead the Foresters. With the win, Conejo moves to within one game of the Central Division leading Foresters with a 15-12 record. Santa Barbara falls to 15-10. See the boxscore/recap here.

Ventura, CA
For the first time this season the Academy Barons were held scoreless as Charles Brooks (Nevada) threw a three-hit complete game (seven innings) shutout to lead the Ventura Halos to a 3-0 win over the Barons in the first half of a doubleheader today at Ventura College. Brooks worked around five walks and three hits to keep the Academy from scoring, posting three strikeouts and stranding five baserunners. Taylor Campos (Ventura College) had a two-run single in the second inning and Cody Phillips (Princeton) hit a solo home run in the fourth to give Brooks all the run support he would need. See the boxscore/recap here.

In the second game of the doubleheader, with the Barons trailing 6-3 and down to their last out, Aaron Cisneros (UC Riverside) hit a dramatic bases-loaded triple to tie the score, and Kevin Maxey (Bethesda) hit a run-scoring double in the tenth inning as the Academy edged Ventura 7-6. Prior to Cisneros’ heroics, the Halos had a big inning of their own, scoring three times in the eighth inning, two on a double by Kaleb Murphy (USC) to take a 6-3 lead. All-Star pitchers Henry Omana (Cal Poly Pomona) and Jacob Friedman both had strong starts for their teams, each recording seven strikeouts, Omana doing it over the first six innings for the Barons, Friedman doing it in five innings. Phillips had two hits to lead the Ventura offense, while three Barons had two hits apiece. See the boxscore/recap here.
The split of the two games sets the Academy’s record in league to 18-7 and the Halos at 12-16.

Irvine, CA
The Long Beach Legends and the Orange County Riptide split a doubleheader today at Concordia University, Orange County winning the first game 6-3 and Long Beach taking the second 17-4. In the opener, The Riptide scored five runs on four hits in their first at bat and got two hit performances from Dillon Kelley (Chico St) and Chase Goldwater (Mississippi St), each with an RBI, to secure the win. Trevor Casanova (Lane College) had two hits and an RBI for Long Beach. See the boxscore/recap here.
In the second game, the Long Beach offense erupted for 17 runs on 16 hits to split the doubleheader. John Montgomery (Eastern Michigan) drove in six runs on four hits, including a three-run home run in the first inning, and Casanova hit his first home run of the summer, a two-run shot in the third, and later added a double, a single, and another RBI to lead the Long Beach offense. See the boxscore/recap here. With the split, Orange County has a league record of 11-16 and Long Beach has a record of 13-16.

July 15, 2016
Healdsburg, CA
The Healdsburg Prune Packers scored seven unanswered runs to open their CCL North Division matchup against the division-leading Neptune Beach Pearl tonight at Recreation Park and held on to post a 7-3 win. Jamey Smart (Loyola Marymount) had three hits, scored twice and drove in a run, and Kenny Corey (UC Santa Barbara) hit a solo home run in the second inning to lead the Packers offense. Jake Steffens (Santa Clara) started on the mound for Healdsburg, pitching five scoreless innings while striking out six, to pick up the win. The victory, which raised the Packers’ league record to 10-10, moved Healdsburg to within three games of the Pearl who lead the North Division with a record of 14-8, second best in the CCL. Walker Pennington (Texas A&M) had two hits and Andrew Bryniarski (Regis) hit his first home run of the summer, a solo shot in the ninth inning, to lead the Pearl. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Long Beach, CA
For only the second time in their last ten league games the Academy Barons fell to a CCL opponent, losing 6-1 to the Long Beach Legends today at Long Beach City College. After the Barons took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a triple by the league’s leading hitter Ernie De la Trinidad and an RBI groundout by the league’s leading run producer, Martin Teague (Hope Int), the Barons were shutout by three Legends pitchers: Devin Sutorius (Saddleback JC), who started and threw three and a third innings; followed by Cole Leaf (UCLA) who pitched four and two-thirds innings, recording six strikeouts and earning the win; and Evan May who pitched a perfect ninth inning. Zack Ferreira (El Camino JC) had two singles, a double, scored twice and drove in a run, and Joey Notch (Long Beach State) had two hits and scored twice to lead the Long Beach offense. With the win Long Beach improves its record in league play to 12-15, seven games behind in the standings to the Barons who fall to 17-6. See the boxscore/recap here.

Ventura, CA
The Orange County Riptide scored three unearned runs on four singles and an error in the first inning of their game against the Ventura Halos today, and went on to score four more unanswered runs en route to a 7-1 win at Ventura College. Tommy Bell (Cal Baptist) had two hits and two runs scored, Laine Huffman (Long Beach State) had two hits and the only RBI in the game for the Riptide, and Jaconb Portaro (Utah) added two hits to lead Orange County’s offense. Tyler Schimpf (Texas) started on the mound for the Riptide, pitching six shutout innings with four strikeouts to pick up the win. Kaleb Murphy (USC) had two hits to lead Ventura. The game was called after eight innings were completed because of darkness and, since the two teams do not meet again in regularly scheduled league play, CCL Commissioner Pat Burns ruled it an official contest that will not be completed at a later date. With the win, Orange County improves its record in league play to 10-15, eight games back in the standings to the Academy Barons. Ventura falls to 11-15, seven and a half games back. See the boxscore/recap here.

July 14, 2016
Compton, CA
As he has done all summer, Ernie De la Trinidad pummeled the baseball tonight, driving in four runs to lead the Academy Barons to an 11-5 win over the Ventura Halos at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. De la Trinidad, who was one of six Barons to represent the Academy at the CCL All-Star Game last night, was one double short of hitting for the cycle tonight. He had a first inning triple to drive in Keyon Allen to open the scoring, a solo home run in the fourth and a two-RBI single in the sixth. He also scored three times. For the season, De la Trinidad is the league’s leading hitter by average at .450, by runs scored with 28, by hits with 36 and by triples with six. He is second in the league with 21 RBI, five behind the Barons’ Martin Teague (Hope Int), who, for the second CCL game in a row, took the game off, and, in both cases, De la Trinidad has more than made up for his absence. On Sunday, the last CCL game the Barons played before the all-star break, De la Trinidad led the Barons in Teague’s absence with three RBI in a win over the Conejo Oaks. Aaron Cisneros (UC Riverside), Trent Hammond (Illinois) and Young also performed well in tonight’s win for the Academy, each posting two hits, one of Cisneros’ being a double. Blake Chiaramonte (Ventura JC) had two hits and an RBI to lead Ventura, which, with the loss, falls to 11-15 in the league standings, seven and a half games behind the Barons which stand atop the league with a 17-5 record. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Palo Alto, CA
Noah Gotsis (Regis) pitched seven shutout innings and a trio of Neptune Beach Pearl hitters had multiple-hit games as the Pearl beat the Menlo Park Legends 3-2 today in a CCL North Division matchup at Baylands Park. Gotsis finished with five strikeouts, scattered five hits and allowed no walks to earn the win. Walker Pennington (Texas A&M) hit a solo home run while John MacLean (Harvard), Andrew Bryniarski (Regis) and Michael Woodworth (Sierra JC) recorded two hits apiece, Bryniarski’s both doubles, to lead the Pearl offense. Sean Watkins had a double, a single and an RBI to lead the Legends. With the win, Neptune Beach improved its league record to 14-7, good for second place overall in league play and five games better in the loss column than their North Division rivals Legends who stand at 14-12. See the boxscore/recap here.

Thousand Oaks, CA
Today’s game between the San Luis Obispo Blues and the Conejo Oaks at Sparky Anderson Field was suspended in the ninth inning due to darkness as the San Luis Obispo were at bat and rallying to try and close an 11-8 deficit to the Oaks. Chad Bible (San Diego State) had a first-inning home run for the Oaks who took early leads of 3-0, 5-2 and 9-6 only to see the Blues rally back each time. The last rally to determine, perhaps, the game’s final outcome will have to wait to be completed until the next time the two teams meet again. Today’s game will be resumed from the spot it was suspended, the Blues at bat trailing 11-8 with a runner on, before the previously scheduled game between the Oaks and Blues Tuesday in San Luis Obispo. (*Note: The Rules of Baseball state that if a game is suspended and the same two teams do not meet at the same location during the remainder of the season, then the suspended game is to be resumed at the visiting team’s location.) The boxscore/recap of this game will be available upon its completion on Tuesday.

July 13, 2016
Compton, CA
Chad Spanberger (Conejo Oaks, Arkansas) hit a mammoth grand slam deep over the right-center field wall in the first inning of the CCL All-Star Game tonight at the MLB Urban Youth Academy as the CCL’s South All-Stars beat the CCL’s North All-Stars 10-9 in the eighth edition of the league’s midsummer showcase. Spanberger’s blast immediately brought back the memory of Tommy Bell’s (Cal Baptist) dramatic walk-off three-run homer in the ninth inning of last year’s all-star game and earned the Arkansas outfielder game MVP honors just as the game was getting started. Bell, as it happened, was also in tonight’s game, making his second straight all-star appearance as a member of the Orange County Riptide, and he came very close to matching his 2015 performance, narrowly missing a home run when he laced a ball off the top of the wall in the sixth inning.
Both all-star squads, as expected from the first half results of the 2016 season, showcased the hitters’ strength in the league this year. The 19 combined runs and 22 combined hits were both all-star bests in the eight-year history of the event. Fifity-four players played in the game which makes for a lengthy boxscore and limited opportunities to rack up big numbers. Besides Spanberger and Bell, some of the top performances in this year’s all-star game included:
Jacob Patterson (Conejo Oaks, Texas Tech) who pitched an inning and two-thirds, accounting for each of the outs in his appearance by way of strikeout (five);
Jacob Friedman (Ventura Halos) who had three strikeouts in his one inning of work;
Kaleb Murphy (Ventura Halos, USC) two hits and three RBI; and,
Renae Martinez (Neptune Beach, Oklahoma) three RBI.
Max Weinstein (Conejo Oaks, Cal Lutheran) two-for-two with two RBI.
The pitchers for the South All-Stars dominated in the strikeout category, compiling a combined total of 17 strikeouts to the North All-Stars five. Each of the eight South All-Star pitchers used the game, most of whom pitched only one inning in the showcase, had at least one strikeout.

Tonight’s game was broadcast live nationwide by Fox Sports West and DVD copies of the broadcast will be available for purchase in about a week. At this time there is no accurate boxscore for the game. We are working to get the problem resolved. We may have to wait for the DVD copy of the game and totally reenter the stats.

July 10, 2016
Compton, CA
Ernie De la Trinidad, the league’s leading hitter, drove in three runs with a single and a double today to lead the Academy Barons to a 7-4 win over the Conejo Oaks at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. De la Trinidad’s performance, which upped his average to .434 in league play, was key for the Barons today because his teammate Martin Teague (Hope Int), who leads the league in run production with 26 RBI, had the day off. Trent Hammond (Illinois) who added three hits, including a double, and Cody Den Beste (Prairie View A&M) who had a single, a double and two runs scored, also starred today. Kyle Murray started and earn the win with five innings on the mound with three strikeouts. James Mendez (Cal St LA) who gave up four runs on six hits, suffered the loss for the Oaks, who fell to 14-12. The Barons improved to 16-5. See the boxscore/recap here.

Also in the CCL today:
Healdsburg, CA
The Menlo Park Legends completed a three-game sweep of the Healdsburg Prune Packers, winning 5-4 today at Recreation Park a day after winning both ends of a doubleheader between the two North Division rivals. The winners of five straight, Menlo Park improved its record to 10-8, a game and a half behind division leading Neptune Beach. (Each of the three division winners receive an automatic berth in the CCL Playoffs at the end of the month.) Dan James (San Francisco), who will represent the Packers at the CCL All-Star Game Wednesday, hit a two-run home run in the first inning to give Healdsburg the early lead, but the Legends, by way of two-hit performances by Tyler Nelin (George Mason) and Miguel Pimentel (Lee U), and five pitchers combining for ten strikeouts, prevailed. With the loss, Healdsburg has lost six straight league games and now stands at 9-10. See the boxscore/recap here.

La Mirada, CA
John Montgomery (Eastern Michigan) hit a two-out grand slam in the fifth inning to lead the Long Beach Legends to a 7-3 win over the Southern California Catch today at Biola University. The homer was the fourth of the summer for Montgomery who will represent Long Beach at the CCL All-Star Game Wednesday. Joey Notch (Long Beach State) opened the scoring for the Legends with a two-run double in the second inning and Francesco Padulo (Cornell) added three hits. Mason Perryman (USC) earned the win on the mound for Long Beach pitching six-plus innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts before handing the ball over to Cole Leaf (UCLA) who had four strikeouts over the last two-plus innings to pick up the save. Sam Mrstik (Dallas Baptist) had three hits to lead the Catch. With the win Long Beach improves to 10-15 in CCL play. The Catch fall to 12-12.

Irvine, CA
The Ventura Halos and Orange County Riptide split a doubleheader today at Concordia University, the Halos winning the opener 5-3 and the Riptide winning the second game 5-4. Statistics for this game were unavailable at post time due to a malfunction in the stats provider’s program. With the doubleheader split, the Halos’ record in league stands at 12-13 and the Riptide’s at 9-16.