Conejo Grabs Top Seed; Turner Leads Oaks to 7–2 Victory Over Barons
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
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0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
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2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | X | 7 | 11 | 3 |
By Micah Rodriguez
The Oaks stayed hot in the final week of the regular season with an impressive wire-to-wire 7–2 victory over the Academy Barons.
After dropping two games on the weekend, the Oaks have won two in a row as they look to hawk down the Orange County Riptide for the one seed in the Southern Division playoffs.
In a must-win game for the Oaks to keep their one-seed hopes alive, Derek Turner came through with his best start of the summer.
A rising redshirt junior at the University of California, Fullerton, Turner tied his longest outing of the summer, going five innings on 65 pitches.
The right-hander only allowed one run and struck out three, leaving the game with a 3–1 lead in the sixth inning when Oaks turned to their bullpen.
Just like they did yesterday in their 9–0 win over the San Diego Bombers, the Oaks jumped on the scoreboard first in the home half of the opening frame.
Brandon Contreras reached on an error leading off the game and scored on an RBI triple in the right-center gap off the bat of Owen Meli.
With one out and Meli still on third, Tyson Reis lifted a deep sacrifice fly to right field, plating Meli and making it 2–0 Oaks.
After the Barons got a run back in the second inning, Danny Aguilera put the Oaks back ahead by two in the third inning.
Starting his first game of the season at shortstop, Aguilera knocked an RBI single to right field, scoring Matthew Wikow and making it a 3–1 ballgame.
That score held until the bottom of the seventh when the Oaks' bats blew the game open.
The first five batters of the inning all reached base. Contreras opened the barrage with a walk and then four straight hits followed. Meli and Witkow singled, Reis doubled in the right-center gap, and Caden Stillwell fought off a fastball on the hands and knocked it into center field, giving the Oaks a 6–1 lead.
The Oaks added one more on a fielding error by the Barons and headed into the eighth inning leading 7–1.
Johnny Levelis, normally a starter on the mound for the Oaks, entered in the sixth and worked a clean inning with two strikeouts in preparation for his next start.
Utility man James Latshaw worked a scoreless seventh and eighth inning with two strikeouts. His scoreless appearance comes a week after he left the yard at the plate against the Arroyo Seco Saints.
Right-hander Hector Valdez allowed one run in the ninth but escaped without allowing any further damage as the Oaks secured a 7–2 victory.
With the win, the Oaks move to 20–12–1, and with a Riptide loss tonight against the Arroyo Seco Saints, the club moves into the top seed in the Southern Division with three games remaining.
If the Oaks win out, they will secure a first-round bye and home-field advantage for the championship game.
Tomorrow, the Oaks face off with the San Luis Obispo Blues, who are currently in a dogfight with the Walnut Creek Crawdads for the No. 1 seed in the Northern Division. First pitch at Pirate Park is at 4 p.m.