Irvine, Calif. – The Orange County Riptide lost their second consecutive CCL game in July, falling 13-12 in a 13 inning affair vs. the Arroyo Seco Saints on Tuesday at the Great Park in Irvine.
Trailing 11-6 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Riptide scored five runs to send the game to extra innings before the Saints plated two runs in the top of the 13th to eventually win it in a game that lasted nearly five hours.
Riptide starter Andrew Pogue (Illinois) threw three innings allowing the Saints only one run on one hit.
The Riptide scored in each of the first three innings courtesy of RBI’s from Kolton Freeman (Dartmouth), Edarian Williams (UNLV), and Jack-Thomas Wold (UNLV). With the Saints having scored one run in the second inning, the score was 3-1 in favor of the Riptide entering the fourth inning.
Derek Shaver (Wichita State) relieved Pogue in the fourth and threw three scoreless innings, allowing only one hit.
Jake Biederman (Davidson College) entered the game for the Riptide in the seventh inning. The Saints pieced together some offense and took the lead 4-3.
Shaver pitched three scoreless innings for the Riptide.
Photo Credit: Alina Nelson
Ethan Holt (UCSD) made his Riptide debut entering the game in relief for Biederman in the eighth inning. The Saints scored three runs off of Holt, extending their lead to four.
Hunter Ash (Cal Poly Pomona) relieved Holt with one out in the eighth inning. A three-run homerun from right fielder Josh Cowden (BYU) gave the Saints a seven run cushion, but Ash got out of the inning with two strikeouts.
The bottom of the eighth allowed the Riptide to cut the deficit to four. Three doubles from Eric Bigani (UNLV), Emilio Rosas (USC), and Edarian Williams put two more runs for the Riptide. They scored their sixth run of the night with a sac-fly from Davis Diaz (Vanderbilt) to bring in Reed Spenrath (TCU), making the score 10-6.
Austin Kryszczuk (UNLV) entered the game in the ninth inning for the Riptide. In his first pitching appearance of the season, Kryszczuk allowed the Saints one run on one hit, making the score 11-6.
Freeman started the scoring for the Riptide with an RBI in the first inning.
Photo Credit: Alina Nelson
Entering the ninth, the Riptide were looking for some late offense. After back-to-back singles from Freeman and Wold, T.C. Simmons (UConn) hit a double to the right field corner scoring two more runs for the Riptide making the score 11-8. After a walk to Reed Spenrath (TCU), back-to-back doubles from Edarian Williams and Davis Diaz tied the game at 11 and sent the game to extra innings.
Kryszczuk and Jake McBride held the Saints scoreless through the 12th.
It wasn’t until the 13th inning that the Saints plated two more runs giving themselves a 13-11 lead.
In the bottom of the inning, Spenrath singled to center to score Bigani from second to bring the Riptide within one, but that was all for the Riptide as the game came to a close.
After an impressive effort, the Riptide’s record now stands at 12-8 overall, 4-6 in league.
The Riptide will be back at the Great Park for the second game of the home stand tomorrow night at 6pm PST for a game against the Conejo Oaks.
OC Riptide vs. Arroyo Seco Saints July 6, 2021 – Box Score
