San Luis Obispo, Calif.— The Orange County Riptide capped off their regular season with a double header sweep of the San Luis Obispo Blues on the road to win the series. The Riptide pitching dominated as they won 6-1.
Riptide’s Pitchers Hit All the High Notes
The Riptide’s pitching staff was dominant as they took care of business in game two of the doubleheader. Five Riptide pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts as the Blues’ lineup couldn’t figure them out all night.
At one point, starter Connor Kinney (Tufts), Brett Garcia (Baylor) and Brennen Farber (Lewis & Clark) combined to retire12 straight Blues hitters between the 4th and 8th innings.
Kinney through four shutout innings with four strikeouts to begin the game in his longest outing of the season. Garcia came on in relief and had arguably the most dominant outing by a Riptide pitcher this season as he went 2 2/3 innings and struck out seven straight before recording one final out in the 7th inning.
Bats Play All the Hits
The Riptide lineup didn’t waste any time by striking in the 1st inning. Connor McGuire (Cal Baptist) is the leader in hits for the Riptide this season and delivered with a clutch single up the middle that scored two runs and have the Riptide an early 2-0 lead.
After the Riptide boosted their lead to 3-0, Bryce Blaser (North Carolina) showed off his wheels in the 5th by stealing 2nd and scoring on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.
In the 6th, Grant MacArthur (San Joaquin Delta College) went the opposite way for a double to drive in a run to push the lead to 5-0. McGuire would later collect his third RBI of the day on a sacrifice fly to make it 6-0.
T6 | A @GrantMacarthur (@SJDCBaseball) DOUBLE and an error on the right fielder bring in one more run😤👀🍊
Score 5-0 Riptide🌊#OCRiptideBaseball #OCRiptideFamily #CCLBaseball #CCL30years pic.twitter.com/UuqL9nmz1H
— OC Riptide Baseball (@ocriptide) July 30, 2023
The Blues scratched a run across in the 9th but the Riptide closed it out to sweep the doubleheader and win the last series of the regular season.
The Riptide will have home field advantage for their first game of the CCL Playoffs, but it has yet to be determined as to if the game will be on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Orange County Riptide @ San Luis Obispo Blues – Box Score