Irvine, Calif. – An explosive night for the offense helped the Orange County Riptide cruise past the SoCal Shepherds with a score of 12-4 on Thursday night.
Riptide starting pitcher Anthony Robie (Texas State University) threw a scoreless first inning, and the Shepherds stranded two baserunners in the frame.
A lead-off single from Dwight Allen (Georgia) and two back-to-back walks to Austin Kryszczuk (UNLV) and Seth Beckstead (Tulane) put some traffic on the bases for the Riptide, but the game remained scoreless after the first inning.
Coming out for his second inning of work, Robie was able to work around a 2-out walk and leave the Shepherds scoreless.
After getting the first two runners on courtesy of a lead-off walk from Davis Diaz (Vanderbilt) and a single from Terrence Simmons (UConn), the Riptide came up scoreless at the end of the second frame.
In his third inning of work, Robie threw yet another scoreless frame for the Riptide.
Entering the bottom of the third inning, the Riptide bats came alive. Allen reached for the second time with a lead-off walk, before stealing second and third base on back-to-back pitches. Jack-Thomas Wold (UNLV) wasted no time, blasting a two-run bomb to right field, making the score 2-0 in favor of the Riptide. Beckstead reached on a double before coming around to score on Cole Robinson’s (Missouri St.) double to deep center, bringing in another run for the Riptide.
Anthony Robie pitched four scoreless innings for the Riptide, striking out six Shepherds. Jake McBride entered the game in the fifth inning and pitch a 1-2-3 scoreless frame.
Entering the sixth inning, the Shepherds hit back-to-back doubles to bring the score to 4-3, before Matthew Magre (Arkansas) came in to replace McBride. Magre retired the first batter he faced, before the Shepherds tied the game on a wild pitch.
Magre got into some trouble in the top of the sixth, but with the help of a 4-6-3 double play and an inning ending strikeout, the Shepherds stranded runners at the corners.
The Riptide bats came alive again in the bottom of the seventh inning, loading the bases with no outs. Simmons cashed in two more runs with a double to right field to help the Riptide regain the lead. Tyler Griggs (Central Arizona College) joined the offensive parade, bringing in two more runs with an RBI single to left field. The Riptide loaded the bases again, this time for Austin Kryszczuk who hit a bases clearing RBI triple to left field, extending the Riptide’s lead to 11-4. Kryszczuk came in to score on a RBI groundout from Eric Bigani (UNLV).
Hunter Ash came in for the Riptide to pitch the eighth inning with a comfortable lead. He threw a scoreless frame and the Shepherds stranded two runners in the inning.
The Shepherds held the Riptide scoreless in the bottom of the eighth before Ash returned for his second inning of work to close out the game. Ash gave up a lead-off single before some great defense by third basemen Efrain Cervantes (Nebraska) secured the 12-4 victory for the Riptide.
The Riptide return to the Great Park tomorrow at 6PM hosting the Walnut Creek Crawdads.
OC Riptide vs. SoCal Shepherds June 17, 2021 – Box Score.