Pasadena, Calif. – The Orange County Riptide engaged in a nail-biting battle on Sunday night against the Arroyo Seco Saints. The Riptide emerged victorious with a 5-4 win after 10 innings of baseball.
In the bottom of the 10th Nolan George (Undecided) retired the first two batters before allowing a run on three consecutive walks when the inherited runner scored on a wild pitch. However, George showed resilience and forced Alec Jones to fly out to right field, securing the final out and bringing the Riptide back into the win column. Head coach Connor Spencer sees it as a growing opportunity and believes George can build off this performance going forward.
“We put him out there with everything on the line, even when things got tricky at the end,” Spencer said. “We allowed him to see things through and I’m glad we did. It was a fantastic outing to bear down and throw strikes.”
Pitching
The Riptide’s pitching played a crucial role, keeping them in the game and allowing the offense to put together a late rally. “The pitchers did a phenomenal job today,” Spencer said. “They really did a nice job and I commend our entire staff for what they did.” Ben Hansen (BYU) shined in his first start and third appearance of the summer. Hansen pitched three innings giving up one run on three hits, while striking out six.
9th inning rally
Heading into the top of the ninth, The Riptide had been held scoreless for eight innings, trailing by two runs. A leadoff single by Connor McGuire (Cal Baptist) was the catalyst for a three run inning as the offense kept the line moving, putting together quality at bats. Nick Upstill (Pepperdine) followed it up with a single of his own and all chaos ensued on a ground ball put in play by Cary Arbolida (Houston).
ARBOLIDA (@ArbolidaCary) hits a sharp ground ball to the short stop, 2 RUNS come in on an error‼️ Score 3-2 RIPTIDE🙌🏼#OCRiptideBaseball #OCRiptideFamily #CCL30years #CCLBaseball pic.twitter.com/IGiRHyX0mu
— OC Riptide Baseball (@ocriptide) June 19, 2023
The Riptide will face Conejo Oaks June 20th at the OC Great Park. First pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. pacific time.
OC Riptide vs. Arroyo Seco Saints – Box