IRVINE, Calif. – The OC Riptide picked up their fourth win of the season on Tuesday night with an 8-3 win at home over the San Diego SunRays.
The SunRays had given OC trouble in the past two meetings defeating the Riptide in both appearances. Nonetheless, the OC offense came through in the middle innings scoring a combined eight runs through three frames, and proved to be the difference maker in the midweek victory.
The lineup got going in the fourth when a pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases for shortstop Nathan Cadena.
With runners in scoring position, Cadena came up clutch for the Riptide, as he cleared the bases with a three-RBI triple to put the Riptide ahead 3-1.
Cadena’s mammoth triple was a welcome sight for the Riptide, as the returner looks to continue to heat up after a slow start and be a key contributor in the OC lineup this season.
“It felt good,” Cadena said. “My teammates got on base for me and allowed me to hit in some good counts, so it felt good.”
In the next at-bat, Rocco Gump (Northwestern State University) continued his hot start to the season and kept the train moving with an RBI single to bring in Cadena.
A sac fly from Max Senesac (Loyola Marymount University) helped tack on another run to the Riptide total and rounded out a five-run inning for OC.
The success in the monster inning can be mostly attributed to Riptide batters hitting with runners on base, which has haunted the team early in the season.
“It looks like guys are more ready to attack,” hitting coach Matt Smith said. “It’s always how summer ball goes, the bats take about two weeks to fully get going.”
However, the squad’s success may have also come from the SunRays tipping pitches, as Smith was able to help his hitters by indicating which pitches were coming.
“The fourth inning we capitalized on knowing if a fastball was coming or an offspeed [pitch] was coming,” Smith said. “In the sake of summer ball, I even talked to the other team’s pitcher [and told him] what I had picked on him because I’d like to see him succeed down the road.”
The Riptide bats stayed hot in the next two innings, adding two runs in the fifth and an additional run in the sixth from a Patrick Hackworth (University of California San Diego) RBI single.
Hackworth was a vital component of the Riptide’s success last summer and had an excellent 2024 summer debut, as he finished 2-4 at the plate with a walk and an RBI.
On the mound, the Riptide kept the SunRays in check for most of the night behind a solid start from right-hander Andrew Parker (Cal State Northridge), who pitched the first three innings and only allowed one run.
Despite San Diego bringing across two runs in the eighth, the Riptide were able to close the SunRays out late and cruise to an 8-3 victory.
The huge win gives the Riptide some confidence going forward and may allow the squad to build positive momentum heading into the weekend.
“I think it opens up a lot of freedom for our guys,” Cadena said. “I think we’ve kinda been searching for that game for a while and now that we got it I think guys will start to click as a team.”
The team will look to build on this home victory this Thursday when they head up to Compton to take on the Academy Barons at 6 p.m.
