A summer baseball team composed of players from collegiate programs across the country plays its home games at Great Park in Irvine, California, and bills itself as Orange County’s best-kept secret.
Relatively few people, indeed, are aware of the Orange County Riptide. With the Angels based in Anaheim, despite what the team’s official name suggests, the Dodgers actually in Los Angeles and minor-league clubs in Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, and Lake Elsinore, there is certainly no shortage of opportunities for area fans to catch games.
Of course, depending on the option selected, tickets to those games—not to mention parking and other ancillary expenses—can run into a significant financial outlay.
In Irvine, meanwhile, admission to Riptide games and parking are free. That’s right, no charge.
The Riptide, which began playing at Great Park in 2019 after previous stints at Vanguard College in Costa Mesa and Fullerton Junior College, has been a member of the 11-team California Collegiate League (CCL) since 2015. The 30-year-old CCL is part of the National Alliance of Collegiate Summer Baseball, which governs 12 NCAA-sanctioned leagues nationwide that are dedicated to further development of college players.
The baseball stadium at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, Calif., on July 11, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)
Some 400-plus players, representing pretty much every major college conference in the country, participate in the league, with 85 of its alumni having been selected in the Major League Baseball draft from 2018–2022, according to the league’s website.
“The quality of baseball speaks for itself,” Tom Stafford, the league’s director of marketing and communications, told The Epoch Times. “Once you attend a game, whether it’s families, fans, kids, you come back. You could be seeing the next big-leaguer, or the next guy playing in the College World Series on ESPN, and you’re kind of front and center.”
Crowds at Riptide and most league games measure in the hundreds, rather than thousands. The ballparks are small and intimate, but the competition is legit.
“It gives people an opportunity to see something similar to low minor-league baseball,” Riptide General Manager Moe Geoghegan told The Epoch Times. “But it’s free and there is easy access. A lot of top-level players that will go on to play professional baseball are playing in these games.”
At 15–7, the Riptide is in second place in the league’s six-team South Division, one game behind the Santa Barbara Foresters after weekend action.
With a coaching staff headed by Cal State Fullerton Director of Player Development Connor Spencer, the Riptide roster features players from such big-name schools as Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arizona State, and North Carolina, as well as the University of Southern California, University of California–Irvine, Long Beach State, and many others.
Among the players Mr. Geoghegan is particularly excited about are outfielder Reese Chapman, an outfielder from Tennessee who wields a big bat, and slick shortstop Carter Garate of Oregon.
“I’ve had some really good shortstops play for the Riptide, and this kid is the best defensive shortstop I’ve had, ever,” Mr. Geoghegan said.
Shortstop Carter Garate of the University of Oregon is throwing a ball in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Orange County Riptide Baseball)
After teams play 35-game, regular-season schedules, the league will conclude with single-game wild-card and divisional playoff rounds Aug. 1–2, followed by a best-of-three championship series matching North and South division winners Aug. 4–6.
The league also hosts an annual all-star event, the CCL Showcase Game, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. July 12 at the Major League Baseball Youth Academy facility in Compton. A 5 p.m. home run derby will precede the game, which is scheduled to be televised on Bally Sports West.
Fans attending Riptide games won’t have reason to open their wallets until they get inside the gates. Once there, they will find an impressive array of concession options, including a beer and wine deck, catered barbeque that includes tri-tip and pulled pork, and more traditional ballpark-type fare such as hot dogs, pizza, ice cream, and soda.
“The hardest thing with any of these summer teams is just how to fund them and keep them afloat,” Mr. Geoghegan said. “It’s not an easy or a cheap operation to run. We are as nonprofit as nonprofit can be. We’re a mom-and-pop operation. It’s getting better, and we’re getting closer to being very stable, but it’s been a chore.”
While virtually all games are played close enough to home that there is no overnight lodging necessary, costs of bussing to and from games definitely add up. The majority of out-of-town league players reside with volunteer host families, with some teams also having arrangements for housing with local colleges.
And despite the presence of players from other areas of the country, more and more athletes from nearby are opting to stay home during the summer and play in the league, specifically for the Riptide.
“We have the most Southern California players on our roster this year that we’ve ever had,” Mr. Geoghegan said. “They want to be on this team because I think they see what we do, the field we play on, and the level of competition in the league.”
The baseball stadium at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, Calif., on July 11, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)
The league also features a robust internship program that enables students who don’t play baseball the opportunity to gain firsthand, off-the-field experience.
“So there’s another component to the league above and beyond just the baseball side of playing the game,” CCL Commissioner Michael Simpson told The Epoch Times. “These interns are learning business economics, journalism skills. There is a whole plethora of different activities they are engaged in, so there’s an educational component to the league also.”
Combine all that with the commonplace sight of parents hanging out in one spot at games while their children run around chasing foul balls, and it’s not hard to see that the league offers something for pretty much everyone.
“That makes it a heck of a lot easier for the parents to be entertained,” Mr. Geoghegan said.
The remaining Riptide home games are as follows:
- July 14 – vs. Conejo Oaks
- July 16 – vs. Santa Barbara Foresters
- July 22 – vs. Santa Barbara Foresters
- July 26 – vs. Arroyo Seco Saints
