Pasadena, Calif. – The Orange County Riptide’s season record stands at 12-6 after a 9-6 win over the Arroyo Seco Saints that featured UNLV’s stars getting hot at the plate again for eight combined hits and four RBIs. It was the third matchup between the teams and the first win for the Riptide over the Saints after losing the first two matchups in June.

As an offense Orange County totaled 14 hits, six RBIs, and six drawn walks in the team’s fourth straight win. Tony Robie (Texas State) earned the win in a season-long five-inning outing with Hunter Ash (Cal Poly Pomona) getting the save in his sixth appearance of the summer.

After both teams went scoreless in the first frame, the Riptide struck first to grab an early two-run lead in the top of the second. However over the bottom halves of the second and third,  Arroyo Seco scratched across a pair of runs to even it back up. UNLV’s Edarian Williams and Emilio Rosas (USC) each singled home the first two Riptide runs.

Eric Bigani continued clutch UNLV hitting in the top of the fourth inning when he brought home Dwight Allen (Georgia) with an RBI base hit to break the tie, and Kolton Freeman (Dartmouth) followed with a fielder’s choice that allowed Tennessee’s Kyle Booker to score and give Orange County a 4-2 lead. But the Riptide would tack on one more unearned inning from Davis Diaz (Vanderbilt) during a later at-bat to claim a three-run lead over the Saints heading into the second half of the contest.

Tony Robie (Texas St. #30) went a season-long five innings and earned the win Friday night. (Photo credit: Alina Nelson)

Robie (Texas State) had his longest outing of the season, going five innings in his sixth appearance with only three hits and two earned runs allowed across 25 men faced. The New Braunfels, Texas native also earned his first win as a member of the OC Riptide. Matthew Magre (Arkansas) took his spot to start the bottom of the sixth in his fifth season appearance and allowed one run in his first frame of work. 

But before that, Bigani resumed the Rebels hit party with another run-scoring single to score Diaz (Vanderbilt) before Jack-Thomas Wold kept it going with an RBI single of his own to score Orange County’s seventh run of the night. Edarian Williams finished it off with his second RBI single of the evening to make it a four-run lead going into the late frames.

UNLV’s products have not strayed off the hot path at all since the start of the season on June 8th as Williams, Wold, Bigani, and Austin Kryszczuk went a combined 8-17 on Friday night with four RBIs and three walks.

The Saints got two runs back after the stretch thanks to a couple stolen bases and a single as well as another RBI base hit to trim the Orange County lead to two. That made three consecutive innings in which Arroyo Seco scored at least one run as they wouldn’t go away easily on their home turf trying to win a third-straight game over the Riptide.

In 15 Riptide at-bats Kyle Booker (Tennessee #1) has a .467 batting average. (Photo credit: Alina Nelson)

Andrew Pogue (Illinois) came in out of the pen and delivered 1.2 scoreless innings with three punchouts as the Riptide offense picked things back up in the top of the ninth with their ninth run. It came on a run-scoring hit from Kyle Booker (Tennessee) as the scoreboard read 9-6 going into the bottom of the ninth. Since arriving in California on June 29th and in three games, Booker has gone 7-15 with three RBIs and sports an even .500 on-base percentage.

Hunter Ash (Cal Poly Pomona) got on the bump to earn the save in his sixth appearance and extend his seven consecutive scoreless inning streak to eight. He did so quickly with three strikeouts to give Orange County it’s fourth straight win and 12th of the summer.

The Riptide (12-6) will ride their four-game winstreak into Compton on Saturday and try to make it five against the MLB Academy Barons. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. PST from MLB Urban Youth.

The Riptide will celebrate July 4th and 5th with off days before a quick two-game homestand at OC Great Park starting July 6th against the Arroyo Seco Saints in the fourth meeting of the summer. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m and all Riptide home games can be live-streamed on the OC Riptide Youtube Channel.

OC Riptide vs. Arroyo Seco Saints July 2, 2021 – Box Score