Martin Shines in First Start, Contreras Records Three Hits, Oaks Defeat Bombers 12–7

Martin Shines in First Start, Contreras Records Three Hits, Oaks Defeat Bombers 12–7

By Micah Rodriguez

The Conejo Oaks kept the good vibes rolling in the second half with a 12–7 wire-to-wire victory against the San Diego Bombers. Outfielders Brandon Contreras and Owen Meli had phenomenal days at the plate. Contreras finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a walk while Meli ended the day 2-for-4 with four RBIs. 

Landon Martin made his first start of the summer for the Oaks. A dominant reliever through the first half, the right-hander made his eighth appearance of the summer and tied his longest outing of the summer, going four innings. Martin scattered four hits, allowed one run, and struck out two. 

The Oaks jump-started their offense with a big inning in the home half of the second. Shortstop Zach Nagy got things going with a four-pitch walk with the bases loaded to bring home the game's first run. Contreras followed with an RBI single to left before Meli cleared the bases with a sharp double into the right-center gap. 

Catcher Tyson Reis capped off the inning with an RBI single to right as the Bombers finally got out of the inning with the Oaks leading 6–0. 

Contreras brought another run home in the bottom of the third with an RBI single to left-center, scoring outfielder Tyler Antwine and making it a 7–0 game.

The Bombers got on the board with a run in the top half of the fourth. Corner infielder Danny Aguilera and company responded in the fifth. Aguilera lined an RBI single to left, scoring Antwine. Meli registered his fourth RBI of the game with a backside single to score Aguilera and push the Oaks' lead to eight, 9–1.

The Bombers scratched across another run in the top of the sixth, and momentarily made things interesting in the top of the eighth. The San Diego club stacked five runs on five hits to bring themselves within two runs, trailing 9–7 heading into the home half of the eighth.

Outfielder Dylan Jackson worked a clutch two-out walk and advanced to second on a single to left field off the bat of corner infielder Matthew Witkow. Antwine then crushed his first long ball of the season off the left field netting to blow the game open again. Antwine finished the game 2-for-4 with a walk, four runs scored, and three RBIs.

After dealing with a hamstring injury in the first half of the summer, Antwine has found his swing in the past week; the righty is 6-for-14 in his last four games.

"The results he wasn't getting were more a result of the downtime," Head Coach David Soliz said. "Now he's back in the lineup, and we know what he can do."

Witkow, Meli, Antwine, and Contreras all finished with multiple hits in the 12–7 win.

The Oaks move to 14–8 with the win and are riding a 3-game winning streak. The Oaks will face one of their biggest challenges of the season tomorrow in a marquee matchup with the Northern Division-leading San Luis Obispo Blues. 

Soliz wants to see his team replicate their energy and performance from today's game against the Blues.

"I want the same thing we had today," Soliz said. "[The Blues] can hit. They can swing it a little bit. Going into tomorrow, just good energy and compete on the mound."

First pitch is at 4 p.m.