PASADENA, Calif. – In a place where the OC Riptide struggled to find any success all season long, the Riptide turned into road warriors and defeated the Arroyo Seco Saints by a final score of 4-1 to advance to the California Collegiate League (CCL) Southern Championship.
After previously getting off to some slow starts on the road, coming in the Riptide knew the importance of starting the game hot, especially at the plate.
The Riptide accomplished just that in the third inning, as the team rallied to strike early in the night. Riptide infielder Camden Bates (Arizona State University) began the inning with a lead-off double to start the threat for OC.
Next, infielder Patrick Hackworth (University of California San Diego) smacked a long single off the right field wall to keep the train moving.
With the bases loaded, outfielder Michael Diaz (Grand Canyon University) stepped to the plate with a chance to put the Riptide on the board first. Despite grounding out on a fielder’s choice to third, an errant throw from the Saints’ third baseman, allowed two runs to come home for the Riptide and put the team up 2-0.
Riptide infielder Rocco Gump (Northwestern State University) followed Diaz with an RBI single to bring in catcher Bren Wilkinson (Cal State University Northridge) and add to the Riptide lead to complete a three-run frame for OC.
The Riptide added some insurance in the sixth, as outfielder Jackson Kemmerer (University of Nevada) brought in Hackworth to score the Riptide’s fourth and final run of the night.
The offensive output proved to be just enough for the Riptide, who pieced together a nice performance despite being down a few key players late in the season.
“The roster always thins out towards the end of the season, so you just have to roll with the punches,” Riptide manager Connor Spencer said. “The guys that stuck around and got an opportunity tonight did a fantastic job. We took advantage of one mistake they made and that was the ballgame.”
On the other side of the coin, Spencer relied on some of his top lefty pitchers to carry the load and attack an Arroyo Seco lineup that primarily featured left-handed hitters.
OC starter Sammy Cova (University of Oregon) started the night for the Riptide on the bump and gave the team a strong start on the road. In 4 ⅓ innings pitched, Cova only allowed one earned run and left the game with a 3-1 lead.
The Riptide then turned to reliever Arthur Liu (Long Beach State University) to come in and shut the door on the Saints out of the bullpen.
Arthur Liu dominated on the mound for the Riptide, as he threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings for OC. (Photo Courtesy Joey Gray Media)
Liu tossed an astounding 4 ⅔ scoreless innings and struck out a whopping nine Saints hitters to close out the game for the Riptide.
The Southpaw credited an aggressive approach on the mound for his success against the potent Arroyo Seco lineup.
“I trusted my catcher Matt (Spear) and was aggressive and attacking hitters,” Liu said.
With the win over the Saints, the squad now sets its sights on the CCL South Championship game, where the team will face a familiar foe in the Conejo Oaks. Spencer insists the team needs to keep relying on the formula of strong pitching and timely offense to find success.
“The gameplan is the same,” Spencer said. “Our pitching needs to hold down the fort and the guys need to be aggressive and take advantage of any mistakes they make. We know that Conejo doesn’t make many mistakes, that’s just the team that they are, so we have to be aggressive.”
The Riptide will look to continue their postseason success on Wednesday, July 31 when the will team travel to Thousand Oaks to take on the Conejo Oaks at 3 p.m.
