IRVINE, Calif. — The Orange County Riptide suffered a 6-4 extra-inning defeat to the Arroyo Seco Saints at the Great Park Saturday night, marking the team’s first loss since July 3.
“We just didn’t take care of the baseball,” said Head Coach Bryan Evans.
Starting pitcher Casey Euper (Pepperdine University) pitched 4.1 innings, struck out five batters, and was responsible for two earned runs. Scoring began in the top of the fifth inning when the Saints scored on an RBI single and a ground out that brought home another runner.
By the top of the sixth inning, the Riptide were still not on the board, and an RBI single allowed the Saints to extend their lead to 3-0.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Riptide found their offensive groove, scoring two runs, one via an error by the Saints left fielder, and the other an RBI single from Luke Johnson (Cornell University).
Jake Evans (CSULB) delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to tie Saturday night’s game.
(Photo courtesy of
Andy Espineira)
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Jake Evans (California State University, Long Beach) delivered the Riptide’s second RBI single of the night to tie the game at three apiece. Reliever Kadin Muckley (University of Missouri, Columbia) retired three straight batters in the top of the ninth inning, but the Riptide could not produce any hits or runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, sending the game into the 10th.
Two errors in the top of the 10th inning proved costly for the Riptide, one from second baseman Jake Evans, and one from closer Jake Spence (San Francisco State University), allowing three total runs to score.
In the bottom of the 10th inning, an error by the Saints shortstop allowed Jake Evans to reach first base and score Camden Sos (Santa Clara University) from second base, but the Riptide were unable to string together any more hits in the inning.
Coach Evans said the Riptide “had a lot of opportunities to move a guy over and get him in,” but that “two untimely errors in the last inning just killed us.”
The Riptide will travel to face the Conejo Oaks at Sparky Anderson Field on Sunday, July 20 at 1 p.m.
