Pasadena, Calif. – The OC Riptide slowly built a 4-run lead and hung onto the win, despite a 2-run homer from the Arroyo Seco Saints in the bottom of the 8th. With this win, the Riptide have their first back-to-back wins since their NorCal road trip. They are now 11-9-1 on the season and 7-8 in conference play, good for 4th in the CCL South.
The Riptide took the lead in the 1st and never looked back. Leadoff hitter Wilson Galvan (UT Arlington) singled, advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch by the Saints pitcher, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Dominic Souto (Cal). In the top of the 3rd, Galvan walked, scoring again on a pair of singles from Austin Kryszczuk (UNLV) and Miller Ladusau (Abilene Christian). Galvan scored yet a third time for the Riptide in the top of the 5th. He singled and a series of errors from the Saints‘ infield allowed Kryszcuk to get on base and both Galvan and Kryszcuk to score.
Galvan had the best offensive night, going 2-4 with a walk and scoring 3 out of the Riptide’s 4 runs. Kryszczuk went 1-4 with a walk, giving him hits in back-to-back games after being hitless for 4 straight. Gavin Haimovitz (Santa Barbara City College) recorded his 4th hit of the season and 2nd double.
On the pitching side, Matthew Maloney (New Mexico State) threw another gem, continuing his excellent season. He went into the 6th for the first time this summer, pitching 6 shutout innings, giving up 4 hits, walking 1, and striking out 7. Maloney’s ERA is now a CCL-South-leading 0.36 and he leads the entire CCL in strikeouts with 39, 6 more than second place.
He was relieved in the 7th by Ethan Pope (Cal Baptist) who pitched a scoreless 7th, but struggled in the 8th, giving up a double and 2-run bomb to dead center before recording an out. Pope managed to limit the damage to 2 runs and was relieved in the 9th by Daniel Naughton (Gonzaga). Naughton bounced back beautifully from his unfortunate recent outing against the MLB Academy Barons, completely shutting down the Saints. With only 5 pitches, he elicited 3 groundouts and secured the Riptide the win.
The Riptide return home to OC Great Park to face the Santa Barbara Forresters on Wednesday, July 6th. First pitch is 6:35 pm.
OC Riptide @ Arroyo Seco Saints – Box Score