IRVINE, Calif – A high-scoring matchup between the OC Riptide and the Ventura County Pirates occurred Thursday night and brought joy to the fans at Great Park seeing the Riptide continue the magic that began the previous night against the Crawdads.
To begin the game, the Riptide offense took a bit of a beating – physically. The first two batters in the Riptide lineup, Jackson Kemmerer and Jake Brown, were both hit-by-pitches and were brought in by the work of their teammates to take the lead in the top of the first. Additionally, in that same inning, a third batter, Rocco Gump, was hit by a pitch and awarded first base. Notably, Kemmerer, who was the first batter beaned by a ball, got hit two additional times in his next two consecutive at-bats.
After falling 2-0 after the conclusion of the first inning, the Pirates responded and cut the lead in half with a solo shot from Yamaguchi in his first plate appearance for the Pirates.
Dominant pitching from the Riptide’s Luis Becerra kept the Pirates quiet at the plate, pitching five innings, allowing only one earned run, and striking out six.
Ace Reese had a strong performance at the plate with two RBI singles and kept a good eye to draw three walks.
“I just was looking to have fun today… I just wanted to get the job done,” said Reese when reflecting on his mindset when coming up to the plate each time.
Taking advantage of the Pirates pitching errors was crucial to the score of the game. Capitalizing on five hit-by-pitches and ten walks was a large part in the Riptide’s overwhelming success.
Additional pitching from the Riptide’s Sammy Petrocelli, Koehn Thomas, and Justin Guzman helped keep the Pirates at bay.
The Riptide squad looks to continue the streak again tonight at their away game against the Arroyo Seco Saints.
