Pasadena, Calif. — The Orange County Riptide lost to the Arroyo Seco Saints by a score of 15-10 on Friday night. The Riptide fall to a record of 4-3-1 and are still searching for their first road victory. This is their second loss in a row.
Austin Kryszczuk (UNLV) got the scoring started early with an RBI groundout to bring home Shane Taylor (Utah Tech) in the top of the 1st. The Saints immediately answered back and tied the game thanks to a solo homer by Kyson Donahue. Donahue was phenomenal for the Saints, going 3-3 with a home run, 4 RBI, 4 runs, and 2 walks.
The Riptide threatened in the 3rd after back to back singles by Santino Panaro (UNLV) and Shane Taylor, but both runners were left stranded. In the bottom of the 3rd, the Saints got to Riptide starter Caleb Turner (UC Riverside) and chased him after 2.1 innings. The Saints ultimately sent 9 batters to the plate and tallied 4 runs to take a 5-1 lead after 3 innings.
Then, in the following inning, the Saints brought home another 5 runs, capped off by a 3-run home run by Nathan Becker to extend their lead to 10-1. Additionally, Jordan Rogers hit a solo home run in the 5th to make it an 11-1 game.
The Riptide chipped away at the lead in the 6th. First, Kryszczuk singled in Wilson Galvan (UT Arlington) for his second RBI of the night. Then, Dominic Souto (Cal) doubled in Kryszczuk to make it an 11-3 game. With 2 outs and the bases loaded, Panaro singled up the middle to bring home Blake Penso (UC Irvine), but Chase Valentine (Tennessee) was thrown out at third before Souto scored. Ultimately, Panaro’s single only scored 1 run, making it an 11-4 Saints lead after 6 innings.
The Riptide loaded the bases with 2 outs again in the 7th after a single by Shane Taylor and walks to Austin Kryszczuk and Jordan Dissin (UC San Diego). Taylor scored on a passed ball, cutting the deficit to 6, and Gavin Haimovitz (Santa Barbara City College) walked to load the bases again for Dominic Souto. Souto came up clutch with a 2 run double but another base running mistake ended the inning. Despite the mistake the Riptide brought home 3 runs in the 7th to make it an 11-7 game.
As the Riptide were started to get within range of completing the comeback, the Saints tacked on 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th to extend their lead to 15-7.
Despite not recording a hit in the 8th, the Riptide brought home another run, making it a 15-8 game. The Riptide would plate another 2 runs in the 9th thanks to RBI by Souto and Panaro, but fell short of finishing the miraculous comeback.
The Riptide will play their next game against the MLB Academy Barons on June 18th at 6:00 p.m at MLB Youth Academy, before coming back to the OC Great Park for a pair of home games.
OC Riptide vs. Arroyo Seco Saints June 17, 2022 — Boxscore
