Oaks Fall Against the Blues, Fall to Second Place in Southern Division

By Micah Rodriguez

Looking to win their third game in as many days, the Oaks faltered on offense and committed defensive miscues, resulting in a 10–3 defeat at the hands of the San Luis Obispo Blues.

The Blues jumped on the Oaks early in the top half of the second and maintained their early momentum throughout the entire contest. 

Although only recording one hit and working one walk, the Blues capitalized on two Oaks' errors, taking a 4–0 lead heading into the home half of the second.

After the Blues tacked on another run in the third inning, the Oaks offense finally broke through in the fifth inning thanks to Brandon Contreras.

The lefty crushed a one-out triple deep into the right-center gap and scored on a wild pitch, trimming the Oaks' deficit to four at 5–1. 

Kyle Zahn made his first start of the summer as the Oaks relievers continue to step up for the club. The right-hander fought through three innings against the high-powered Blues' offense, allowing five runs (three earned) with two strikeouts. 

In relief of Zahn, Caden Sramek made his best outing of the summer for the Oaks. The right-hander spun four scoreless innings in his longest appearance of the season. He scattered three hits and struck out three.

"He threw a lot more strikes," Head Coach David Soliz said regarding Sramek's outing. "He was in the zone with more than one pitch, and it gave him a chance to work a little bit longer."

In the home half of the eighth, the Oaks offense scratched another run across. Pinching hitting, Matthew Ramirez dropped in a one-out single. With two outs, Liam Wilson knocked a single to left, and the subsequent batter, Witkow, smoked an RBI double just inside the first base line, scoring Ramirez. 

Contreras delivered an RBI single to right field in the ninth inning, but the game was all but decided as the Oaks fell 10–3. 

Offensively, Contreras, Matthew Witkow, and Zach Nagy all recorded multi-hit games. It was Contreras's thirteenth game this summer with at least two hits – the most on the Oaks, one ahead of Witkow, who recorded his twelfth game with at least two hits in the defeat. 

The Blues offense continued their barrage in the late innings, getting to Oaks' right-hander Seth Slagiel for five runs (four earned) in the final two frames. 

The Oaks infield defense has been a strength all season; the club leads the CCL in double plays turned. However, in today's defeat, the infield committed a very uncharacteristic four errors, which the Blues capitalized on. 

"It changes the complexion of the game," Soliz said of the defensive performance. "We just [have to] clean it up a little bit on defense and try to make that adjustment tomorrow."

With the loss, the Oaks fall to 20–13–1 and drop back to the No. 2 seed in the Southern Division after the Riptide defeated the Philippines Baseball Group 17–0 earlier today to recapture the No. 1 seed.

The Oaks face the Blues again tomorrow. This time the club travels up to San Luis Obispo for their final road game of the regular season. First pitch is at 6 p.m. at Sinsheimer Stadium.