IRVINE, Calif. – Thursday night’s Opening Day matchup saw the Orange County Riptide defeated by the visiting San Diego Bombers 7-3.
After three innings with no score, the Bombers struck first, in the top of the fourth inning. The Bombers posted one run following a pair of wild pitches issued by starting pitcher Josh Hickey.
In the same inning, a Riptide pitching change occurred before the Bombers extended their lead with a 2 RBI single to right field, which brought the score to 3-0. Pitcher Dylan Nieto struck out the final Bombers batter of the top half of the fourth to give the Riptide a chance to answer back in the bottom of the inning.
To lead off the bottom of the fourth inning, Bradley Navarro doubled for the Riptide’s first hit of the night. A blooper to left field from Luke Johnson advanced Navarro to third base before Justin Tillar was issued a walk to load the bases. Another walk was issued to Grant MacArthur, which advanced Navarro home and put the Riptide on the board, 3-1. A 2 RBI double from Ryder Young then tied the game 3-3.
“We kind of pieced things together that inning, which gave us three runs, but there were definitely chances where we could have got a little bit more,” said Riptide Head Coach Bryan Evans, who made his head coaching debut for the Riptide Thursday night.
The Riptide’s offense was silent for the rest of the game, but the Bombers broke the tie in the top of the sixth inning as a result of a two-run homer off of pitcher Jace Behnke, which gave the Bombers a 5-3 lead.
The Bombers then added an insurance run with an RBI double in the top of the seventh inning. Pitchers Riley Hunsaker, Kadin Muckley, and Jack Morrissey were each called to the mound in an effort to silence the Bombers’ bats, but the Bombers sealed their 7-3 victory with another earned run in the top of the ninth inning.
“I think, today, we kind of came out a little lackluster, kind of just on our heels a little bit,” Evans said. “Not a lot of excitement for game one.”
The Riptide will look for their first win of the 2025 season on Friday, June 6 as they take on the Santa Barbara Foresters at 7 p.m. at home.
