Quality at-bats in high-pressure moments were the saving grace for the Orange County Riptide in their 4-2 Opening Day win over the San Diego Bombers at Great Park on Tuesday.
Despite being shutout through the first six innings, the Riptide rallied in the seventh with quality at-bats – pushing across four runs on just one hit, three walks and a sacrifice fly.
The matchup opened with a tightly-contested pitching duel with the Bombers drawing first blood on a bases loaded walk in the top of the sixth.
After the Riptide went down 1-2-3 in the bottom half, San Diego brought in their second run on another free pass with the bases juiced.
“I just said minimize and attack the zone,” Riptide head coach Bryan Evans said. He did exactly that,”
Evans added how that moment shifted the momentum to the home dugout.
“Getting out of the bases loaded jam was a huge momentum changer, and then we went up the next inning and put up four runs, Evans said. “Hats off to him.”
Down 2-0, the tides turned quickly for Orange County in the seventh.
Second baseman Connor Barth led off the inning with a walk, followed by a sac bunt from Nate Pone. Outfielder Jarett Sabol then reached on a single, with Travis Curry and Reid Montgomery reaching on a hit-by-pitch and walk, the latter of which brought in the first Riptide run and loaded the bases for leadoff hitter Alex Dolan.
Dolan, an outfielder from the University of the Pacific, then drew a second consecutive walk to knot the game at two.
With Texas A&M commit Justin Tillar at the dish, a wild pitch allowed Curry to score the go-ahead run. Later in the at bat, Tillar delivered a sacrifice fly to score Montgomery and make the score 4-2.
In the top of the ninth, with the bases loaded and the tying run on second base, Riptide right-hander Dayton Johnson induced a double-play groundball to close the door and seal the Riptide’s 4-2 Opening Day victory.
“We got a great group of guys out here and it’s awesome to start 1-0,” left fielder Reid Montgomery said.
With a strong team win in the books, the Riptide now turn their attention to their Friday night matchup against the Bombers at Great Park.
Contributed by Jake Zamora, Nick Wire, Brady Charette, and Kenji Ito
