Compton, Calif. — The MLB Academy Barons defeated the Orange County Riptide by a score of 8-5 on Saturday night. The Riptide fall to 4-4-1 and have lost three games in a row. Nicholas Martinez, the starting pitcher for the Barons, was fantastic. He finished with 6 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, and got the win. The Riptide offense made it close late, but fell just short of completing the comeback.
The Barons started the scoring in the 1st inning. A pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases with no outs against Riptide starter Evan Yates (Cal State Fullerton). Yates induced a pair of ground outs and a strikeout to limit the damage to 2 runs.
The Riptide threatened in the top of the 3rd inning after Joey Nicolai (UC Riverside) walked and Gavin Haimovitz (Santa Barbara City College) was hit by a pitch with 1 out. A double play ended the inning, keeping the score at 2-0 Barons. The Barons would tack on an unearned run in the bottom of the 3rd, making it a 3-0 game.
In the 5th, the Riptide tallied their first hit of the game, a leadoff single by Gavin Mez (UNLV), but were unable to move him from first in the inning. In the bottom frame, the Barons extended their lead by plating a pair, making the lead 5-0. Evan Yates worked into the 5th and was relieved by Jack Noble (Long Beach State) after allowing a leadoff baserunner that later came around to score.
Austin Kryszczuk (UNLV) put the Riptide on the board in the top of 6th with a solo home run to left field, cutting it to a 5-1 game. The Riptide threatened to add on after back to back 2-out singles by Shane Taylor (Utah Tech) and Dominic Souto (Cal), but a fly out ended the threat.
The Barons answered back in the bottom of the 6th, scoring another run on a sac fly and extending the lead to 6-1 after the 6th.
Facing a new pitcher in the 7th, the Riptide offense chipped away at the lead. The inning started with a pair of walks to Brandon Burckel (Houston) and Nathan Manning (Cal). A few batters later, with runners on the corners and two outs, Santino Panaro (UNLV) delivered with an RBI single to left to bring home Burckel and cut the deficit to 4. After a wild pitch, Gavin Haimovitz scored on a balk, making it a 6-3 game. Then, still with two outs, Austin Kryszczuk delivered a ground-rule RBI double to bring home Panaro, making it a 6-4 game. The Riptide ultimately scored three in the 7th.
The Riptide chipped away again in the top of the 8th. Dominic Souto led off the inning with a walk, and Gavin Mez followed with a single. After a passed ball, Souto advanced to third, but Mez was thrown out at second for the first out of the inning. Then, Clayton Owens (USC) came up clutch with a pinch hit RBI double to bring home Souto. The Riptide stranded a pair to end the inning, but cut it to a 6-5 game after their half of the 8th.
In the bottom of the 8th, the Barons added 2 insurance runs on a 2 RBI single to extend their lead to 8-5.
In the top of the 9th, Santino Panaro led off with a double. He advanced to third but was left stranded to end the game.
The OC Riptide will play their next game against the MLB Academy Barons on Sunday, June 19th, at the OC Great Park at 4:35 p.m. They will look to snap a three-game losing streak.
OC Riptide vs. MLB Academy Barons June 18, 2022 — Boxscore
