Irvine, Calif— After giving up 12 hits to the Academy Barons Friday, the Orange County Riptide emphatically answered back by throwing the 2nd no hitter in Riptide history en route to a 6-0 victory over the Barons Saturday.
Five Unstoppable Arms
Jack Kirrer (Cal) started for the Riptide and went four innings, dominating the Barons hitters at an uptempo pace. He let his defense work behind him inducing mainly ground balls as he only struck out two batters.
Nick Wallerstedt (Long Beach State) had the strikeout working for him, nothing three after coming on for Kirrer in the 5th inning. Wallerstedt went 1.2 innings after running into trouble in the 6th.
After a walked loaded the bases for the Barrons with two outs, head coach Connor Spencer looked to Trevor Ernt (San Jose State) to get out of the jam. Ernt was able to keep the game scoreless after inducing a groundout to third and would pitch the 7th for the Riptide as well.
Ryan Hernandez (Cal Baptist) pitched a perfect 8th inning which gave way to Gray Thomas (Oklahoma) to put the game away and earn the combined no hitter.
The Riptide locked into a pitchers dual with Evan Adolphus who went seven scoreless innings for the Barrons while allowing four hits. The Riptide would finally get a run on the board in the 8th when Brandon Burckel (Houston) stole 3rd and forced a wild throw from the catcher that led him to come around and score.
Riptide Break on Through in 9th
The top of the 9th saw the Riptide’s bats break out when they added five insurance runs to boost their lead in the final inning.
The big blow came when Carter Garate (Oregon) singled to right field with the bases loaded to drive in two runs to make it 5-0. Burckel scored the next at bat on a wild pitch to finish the Riptide’s scoring at 6-0.
GARATE😤 @CarterGarate @OregonBaseball picks up a 2 RBI base hit‼️We head into the bottom of the ninth score 6-0 RIPTIDE🙌🏼#OCRiptideBaseball #OCRiptideFamily #CCL30Years #CCLBaseball pic.twitter.com/x0A4b5T3xZ
— OC Riptide Baseball (@ocriptide) June 25, 2023
The Riptide look to win the series against the Barons on Sunday when they travel back to the Irvine Great Park to host the final game of the series at 7 p.m.
Orange County Riptide @ Academy Barons – Box Score
