IRVINE, Calif. – The Orange County Riptide delivered a decisive 10-3 victory against the Philippines Baseball Group Tuesday night at the Great Park.
With pitcher Trey Telfer (San Diego State University) starting on the mound for the Riptide, the Philippines delivered three hits in the top of the first inning, including a two-RBI single that allowed them to take an early 2-0 lead.
“We played very good baseball today, all three pillars of baseball: pitching, defense, hitting,” said Head Coach Bryan Evans. “We just like giving up first inning runs, but that’s fine.”
In the bottom of the first inning, Bradley Navarro (University of Utah) hit a leadoff single up the middle and Jake Lambdin (Duke University) and Carter Danz (Northwestern University) were both issued walks, but the Riptide could not find a way to bring these runners home.
The Riptide batted around in the bottom of the second inning, and scored six runs on four hits. Three Riptide batters were walked before Lambdin and Danz each hit a two-RBI single, Isaac Cadena (University of Southern California) hit an RBI single, and Zach Crandall (University of California, Irvine) a sacrifice fly to score Danz, giving the Riptide a strong 6-2 lead going into the third inning.
Two Riptide men, Jack Salmon (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) via a double, and Navarro via a walk, were left stranded in the bottom of the third inning, and six straight Riptide batters were retired in the next two innings.
Scoring resumed for the ‘Tide when, in the bottom of the sixth inning, Lambdin, who got on base in four of his five at-bats Tuesday, singled up the middle, followed by a single from Cadena, and a walk drawn by Danz. With the bases loaded, Luke Johnson (Cornell University) brought two runs home on a double to left field. Following Johnson’s at-bat, Crandall reached first base on an error by the Philippines shortstop that allowed two more runs to score for the Riptide and brought the score to 10-3 at the end of the sixth inning.
“I think the tone was set pretty early on,” Lambdin said. “I think we had good at bats in the first inning and it didn’t really show, so it was good to get some runs on the board.”
Pitcher Hauze Fragoso (CSU Bakersfield) pitched three innings in relief, striking out six of 10 batters faced.
(Photo courtesy of Dominic Madonia)
Navarro singled and Lambdin walked in the bottom of the seventh inning, but no more runs came across for the Riptide after the sixth inning.
Defensively, Riptide relievers dominated on the mound. Hauze Fragoso (California State University, Bakersfield) entered the game in the top of the fifth inning and retired seven straight batters. In the top of the eighth and ninth innings, relievers Jake Covey (Concordia University Irvine) and Jack O’Malley (Bucknell University) combined to retire six straight batters, with O’Malley striking out the side to end the game.
“I told the guys last week that these next two weeks are gonna be huge for our team, and putting ourselves in a good position to win the league, and so far, we’ve done our job,” Evans said. “We had a little slip up last week against the Bombers, but I think we’re putting ourselves in a good spot to compete for the league title come after the all-star break.”
The Riptide will continue their homestand when they face the San Diego Waves Wednesday, July 9 at the Great Park at 7 p.m.
