IRVINE, Calif. – The Orange County Riptide failed to overcome their own mistakes on Tuesday night, dropping the game 6-3 to the San Luis Obispo Blues.
Riptide starting pitcher Tommy Mcguire held the Blues scoreless through the first three innings, however SLO broke through in the fourth.
Leadoff hitter Dominick Najar doubled down the left field line and later scored on a fielders’ choice after stealing third. Later in the inning, Brendan Comerford ripped a ground-rule double to right center and came home after CJ Moran singled to right.
Moran then reached second on a passed ball and later scored off an RBI single from Miles Mador, extending their lead to four.
The Riptide struggled to meet their pregame goal of eliminating freebies, ultimately committing three errors – two of which sparked the Blues’ rally in the fourth.
“We didn’t take care of the baseball,” head coach Bryan Evans said. “[We] made some bad plays; it happens a little bit, but we have to be able to bounce back from it.”
The Blues tacked on another in the sixth, prompting an urgent response from the Riptide offense.
In the bottom of the sixth, Conner Barth reached on an error with two outs – kicking off a mini rally. Alonso Reyes flared a double to left, setting up Tatum Marsh, who delivered a 2-RBI single past short.
Reyes finished 3-for-4 from the plate with a run.
“I tried to get the ball to the barrel,” Reyes said. “I got a couple of lucky hits, so that’s nice. I’ll take those when we get those, but we just had a couple of errors on defense that probably slowed us down a bit.”
SLO added to their lead again with another run in the eighth.
Down by four runs in the ninth, the Riptide brought the tying run to the plate with two outs – yet they couldn’t mount a large enough comeback.
Noah Neufeld scored after leading off with a double, followed by an RBI single from Travis Curry.
The Riptide will return to Great Park on Wednesday night to take on the San Diego Waves.
First pitch is set for 7 p.m.
