July 20, 2016 Palo Alto, CA RJ Williams (UT Arlington) and Dempsey Grover (UC Santa Barbara) hit back to back home runs to lead off the game for the Menlo Park Legends, and Clayton Casey (Houston) and Nick Brooks (Gonzaga), the number three and four hitters in the Legends lineup, then hit back-to-back triples as Menlo Park pounded the Walnut Creek Crawdads right from the start en route to a 12-2 blowout tonight at Baylands Park. The Legends scored 11 runs in their first four at bats, most of the damage coming from the first four hitters in their lineup mentioned above who combined to go 10-for-15 in the game with eight runs scores and seven runs driven in between them. The run support was more than enough for starting pitcher Alex Hernandez (Fordham), who threw four shutout innings with seven strikeouts to earn the win. Miguel Pimentel (Lee U), the number eight hitter in the lineup, also had a nice game, adding two doubles and two runs scored to the Menlo Park attack. With the win, Menlo Park trades places with the Healdsburg Prune Packers, who lost tonight, and, at 11-10, are just a half game behind the Conejo Oaks for the wildcard berth to the CCL playoffs. Falling to 4-19, the loss tonight was the Crawdads 16th straight loss in CCL play. See the boxscore/recap here. Also in the CCL today: Compton, CA With the score tied at 3-3 Grant Craddolph (Cal St LA) hit a one-out double in the bottom of the ninth inning and the next batter, James Stea (Valparaiso), hit a run-scoring single as the Academy Barons had a 4-3 walk-off win over the Long Beach Legends tonight at the MLB Urban Youth Academy. The win improves the Barons record atop the CCL to 20-7, three games ahead of second place Santa Barbara who was idle tonight, and, with eight games remaining, reduces the Academy's magic number for clinching at least the wildcard spot in the CCL playoffs to three. The Legends and Barons traded single runs in the first and second innings tonight, and then traded two-run innings in the fifth and sixth to setup the 3-3 tie situation in the ninth. Aaron Cisneros (UC Riverside) had a two-run double in the sixth, and Sam Shaikin (Valparaiso) had two hits and the other RBI to lead the Barons. Aaron Case had a double, single, an RBI and a run scored to lead Long Beach. The loss moves Long Beach's record in CCL play to 13-18. See the boxscore/recap here. San Luis Obispo, CA Korey Andrson (Western Carolina) had eight strikeouts over six shutout innings to lead the San Luis Obispo Blues to a 3-1 win over the Ventura Halos tonight at Sinsheimer Park. The win keeps San Luis Obispo very much in the playoff picture at the end of the month. At 13-12 in league play, the Blues are a half game back of the Conejo Oaks, who were idle tonight, for the wildcard spot. The Blues had nine hits in the game tonight, all singles, and were led by Blake Johnson's (Alabama Birmingham) two hits and two RBI, Garrett Dodd's (Louisiana Tech) two hits and one RBI, and Niko Pacheco (Cal St Fullerton) who also had two hits. Austin Russ (USC) had a double, a single and drove in Ventura's only run to lead the Halos. With the loss tonight, the Halos fall to 12-18. See the boxscore/recap here. Irvine, CA An RBI-triple by Tommy Bell (Cal Baptist) and RBI-doubles by Jacon Portaro (Utah) and Chase Goldwater (Mississippi St) in the third inning today put the Orange County Riptide in front for good in their 7-4 win over the Southern California Catch at Concordia University. Bell finished the game with three RBI, and Dillon Kelley (Chico St) doubled and scored twice to lead the Riptide, who improved their record in CCL play to 12-17. The Catch, who fall to 14-15, got multiple-hit games from Caleb Potter (West Virgina), who had two singles and two RBI in the game, and Johnny Weeks (Hawaii), who added a double and a single. See the boxscore/recap here.