THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The Riptide battled early against the Conejo Oaks, but ultimately lost control in the seventh inning on their way to a 12-5 loss on the road.
Heading into the seventh inning, the OC Riptide had seemed to claim back the early momentum that the Oaks built in the third inning when they jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
In the fifth, the Riptide responded with a huge four-run inning on the back of a two-run RBI triple from infielder Carson McEntire (Oregon State University).
Additionally, after surrendering four runs in the bottom of the inning, OC responded in the top of the seventh with another run, as Matt Spear (San Jose State University) brought home Patrick Hackworth (University of California San Diego) to reduce the deficit to just one run heading into the bottom of the seventh.
However, in the bottom half of the inning, the Oaks jumped on Riptide reliever Hunter Long (Michigan State University) to load the bases with no outs.
Despite a pitching change to bring in right-hander Koehn Thomas (Santa Barbara City College), the Oaks continued to keep the train moving, with a mixture of walks and timely hitting allowing Conejo to hit through the order.
Finally, reliever Ryan Kittredge (Cal Baptist University) was able to get the Riptide out of the inning, but not before OC surrendered five runs in the frame.
“We gave them 21 free bases… it’s simply unacceptable and for whatever reason we’re really struggling to put together complete baseball games when we’re on the northside of Los Angeles,” Spencer said.
Oaks leadoff hitter outfielder Jack Brooks was especially effective for Conejo, as he finished 2-4 at the plate with 2 RBIs and brought home the final run of the inning with an RBI single.
Conversely, OC finished quiet at the plate and only managed to score one run outside of the fifth inning all day long.
Much of this success for the Oaks can be attributed to the strong day from Conejo starter, Collin Clark, who held the Riptide scoreless in the first four innings and struck out a whopping nine Riptide hitters.
“I give credit to their starter, he threw the ball very well by mixing speeds and locating well,” Spencer said. “We struggled with him early, once we were able to get him out of the ballgame we were finally able to get something going, but I give him credit.”
Despite the loss, the Riptide still have plenty of reason to stay optimistic with the squad going 9-3 over their past 12 games. Now the Riptide’s skipper aims to regroup his team and make adjustments to cultivate more success on the road going forward.
“It boils down to coming out and executing,” Spencer said. “It’s just a matter of taking a deep breath and being consistent. We’ve got performances out of these guys so far this season that are quality performances, but we just haven’t been able to put it together when we’re on the road in Pasadena (Arroyo Seco) and here in Thousand Oaks (Conejo).”
The Riptide will have a chance to come back home on Tuesday, July 9th, as they take on the MLB Academy Barons at 7 p.m. for a beach night at the ballpark.
