Irvine, Calif. – The Orange County Riptide tied against the San Diego Waves after 11 innings. They fall to a record of 1-0-1. Austin Kryszczuk was the star of the game for the Riptide, hitting a grand slam as part of a 5-run sixth inning, but a ninth inning rally by the Waves lead to the tie.
Reed Schaefer (University of Arizona) got the start for the Riptide. The Waves started the scoring early, plating one in the top of the first. Gavin Mez (UNLV) answered back with a solo home run to right in the bottom of the second to tie the game. In the third, the Riptide took their first lead of the game thanks to RBI singles by Austin Kryszczuk (UNLV) and Shane Taylor (Utah Tech) and led 3-1 after three innings.
San Diego quickly responded by scoring three in the top of the fourth, off of Trevor Meisner (Utah Tech), to take a 4-3 lead, and tacked on another run in the fifth, making the score 5-3 after five innings.
Then, it was a huge sixth inning for the Riptide that shifted the momentum. After Mez singled and Nathan Manning (Cal) reached on an error, Spencer Serven (UT Rio Grand Valley) singled to cut the deficit to one run. A few batters later, with the bases loaded and two outs, Austin Kryszczuk demolished a grand slam to left field to give the Riptide an 8-5 lead.
GRAND SLAM ‼️ @austinkryz_ (@unlvbaseball) breaks the game open and puts the Riptide up 8-5 after 6 innings! #OCRiptidefamily #CCLBaseball pic.twitter.com/ae8rJAzqXb
— OC Riptide Baseball (@ocriptide) June 9, 2022
Additionally, Zach Thomas (UNLV) was phenomenal out of the bullpen, providing 3.1 strong innings and only allowing one baserunner. He turned the ball over to Noah Carabajal (Long Beach State) for a chance to close it out in the ninth. Carabajal could not close it out, and Tim Brown again went to the bullpen, this time for Michael Dillon (Nova Southeastern). Dillon entered with the Riptide up 8-7, and a runner on second with one out. After a pair of wild pitches, the Waves tied the game at 8. The Riptide could not walk it off in the ninth, so the game headed to extra innings.
Neither team managed a run until the 11th inning where the Waves scraped across a run to take a 9-8 lead. In the bottom of the 11th, with Jordan Dissin (UC San Diego) on second, Gavin Mez singled to put runners on the corners and nobody out. Clayton Owens (USC) singled to right to bring home Dissin and tie the game, 9-9. After a double play and a ground out, the teams agreed to call the game a tie.
“All and all, our team showed a good fight. Showed that they like to stay out here for a very long time… the guys are happy to be here,” assistant coach Matt Smith said after the game.
The OC Riptide will play their next game at the Great Park against the Arroyo Seco Saints at 6:35 p.m. on Friday, June 10.
OC Riptide vs. San Diego Waves June 8, 2022 – Box Score