SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – The Orange County Riptide trampled the San Luis Obispo Blues 8-1 at Sinsheimer Park Thursday night.
A two-run home run from Carter Danz (Northwestern University), his first homer of the summer, came in the top of the first inning and gave the Riptide an early 2-0 lead.
“It was pretty cool,” Danz said. “We needed a momentum starter, so I was happy that I could do that for us, and I hope I can continue to do that.”
The Riptide pitching staff excelled against the Blues batters, combining for 13 strikeouts and just one walk. Starting pitcher Michael Erspamer (Stanford University) recorded five shutout innings and picked up his second Riptide win, and reliever Nathan Helman (Kennesaw State University) struck out the side in two back-to-back innings.
In the top of the third inning, Danz was issued a walk before Zach Crandall (University of California, Irvine) singled up the middle and reached second base on an error by the Blues center fielder to score Danz and extend the Riptide lead to 3-0. Up next to bat in the top of the third was Grant MacArthur (University of Connecticut) who delivered an RBI single to bring Crandall home; this was MacArthur’s first of three hits in Thursday’s game. Crandall, Bradley Navarro (University of Utah), and Luke Johnson (Cornell University) each recorded two hits.
In the top of the fourth, Reid Montgomery (California State University, Long Beach) scored on another error by the Blues center fielder, which put the Riptide up 5-0.
The rest of the Riptide’s scoring came in the top of the ninth inning; with Crandall at the plate, an error by the Blues right fielder, the Blues’ sixth and final error of the night, brought in Navarro and Camden Sos (Texas Christian University). MacArthur then doubled to score Crandall, which gave the Riptide an 8-0 lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning.
Jack Morrissey (Belmont University) and Danny Suarez (University of California, Irvine) each pitched an inning in relief, allowing just one run to score. The Riptide almost eked out their first shutout of the season, but gave up a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning for a final score of 8-1.
“We kind of flipped the script on them today,” said Head Coach Bryan Evans. “Usually, the last couple of games, we’ve been giving up runs in the first inning, and it [Danz’s home run] was a big tone-setter, and today, we got the two runs in the first inning.”
The Riptide will be on the road again on Saturday, June 28 to face the Conejo Oaks at Ventura College at 4 p.m.
