IRVINE, Calif – The Riptide suffered a loss against the San Diego SunRays on their home field Saturday night. After falling behind from the start, the Riptide could not string together enough hits to score enough runs to threaten the SunRays.
To begin the game, the SunRays struck first with an RBI flyout and a stolen base at home to make the score 2-0 and the top of the second inning. Nate Stiveson responded in the bottom of the second with an RBI groundout to cut the lead in half, making it 2-1.
Riptide starting pitcher Andrew Liu gave up a few walks in the top of the third to tack on two more runs. Justin Guzman took over on the mound in the top of the third.
The Riptide bats were silent through five innings until Jake Brown came up to the plate and knocked a majestic two-run homerun, bringing the score to 4-3. Brown also doubled in the sixth but was unable to be brought in.
“I went up to the plate with a plan to hunt the pitch I was looking for,” said Brown when reflecting on his plan at the plate.
The Rays added three more runs throughout the next few innings while the Riptide was unable to make a change to the score. The final score remained at 7-4.
“We’re playing bad baseball, there is just no way around that,” said head coach Connor Spencer. “I think that the product that we’re putting out on the field is very poor. The guys need to think about what that competitive drive is that’s missing from our game right now … we’re not hitting well right now and guys are running all over us. We need to try to beat the game and not the opponent … and I think that will give us more success than what we’ve been producing lately.”
The Riptide squad looks to redeem their loss Tuesday night at the Great Park.
