PASADENA, CA — The Arroyo Seco Saints (1-1) defeated the MLB Academy Barons (1-1) at Jackie Robinson Field Saturday night by way of an 8-1 final score.

Coach Aaron Milam opted for Zach Erdman (Transfer Portal) to begin the game on the mound for his Saints squad.

The Barons wasted no time at the plate Saturday night as they got to Erdman in the top of the first inning. Jason Del Villar (Sonoma State) drove in Chip Mertz (Canyon High School) to get their side up 1-0 early.

Erdman would settle in after his shaky first inning, however. He would go on to toss three innings of shutout baseball to conclude his Saturday night outing. He went four total innings, allowing one earned run on four hits and adding four strikeouts, as well.

The Saints offense scored early and often, starting with Gannon Snyder (Transfer Portal) coming in to score on Barons’ starting pitcher Joel Tornero’s (Azusa Pacific) wild pitch in the bottom half of the second inning.

Saints’ center fielder Noah Williams (Colorado State University Pueblo) blasted a 397-foot towering shot to left field to extend the Saints’ second inning lead to 4-1. He shared his thoughts and emotions regarding his home run postgame.

“Anytime there are runners on, you’re trying to execute and get them in,” said Williams after his team’s inaugural win. “It’s good to get the first one out of the way, plenty more to come.”

Similar to Friday night, the Saints’ bats went cold in the following few innings. The lack of offense forced the Saints’ bullpen to be in tip-top shape; they accepted this challenge.

Familiar face Brady Nelson (St Cloud State) shoved in his 2025 Saints debut. His scoreless three innings on the bump kept the Barons at bay. After his team’s home win, Coach Milam shared about how important a reliable pitcher is to their success.

“I know what I am going to get, but he is also an older, stronger kid,” mentioned the Saints’ skipper. “What helps more than anything is that [Nelson] has been through [summer ball] with me. He knows the system that we are running.”

Milam also spoke about how “pitching wins baseball games.” The Saints’ pitching staff was well aware of this fact as they only allowed one run to cross the plate all night.

In addition to Erdman’s and Nelson’s dominant displays on the mound, reliever Nolan McCracken (Arizona State) closed out Saturday night’s game with a plethora of strikeouts in his two innings of relief.

Five of McCracken’s six outs were by way of the K (strikeout). An eighth-inning walk and a ninth-inning hit-by-pitch were the only signs of weakness from the Saints’ closer, but he navigated the final two innings with relative ease and was unscathed when the game was all said and done.

While the Saints’ pitching stole the show in their second game of the summer, their offense refused to go unspoken for.

In the seventh inning, the Saints added some insurance runs thanks to Jack Little’s (Baylor) RBI double and Eli Lopez’s (Cal State Fullerton) RBI single. Their run-scoring contributions swelled the Saints’ lead to 6-1 heading into the final two frames. 

In the home half of the eighth, the Saints tacked on two more runs to rub salt in the Barons’ wound. Keon Moseni (University of Central Arkansas) scored on an error and JJ Kennett (Baylor) crossed the plate on a wild pitch.

Eight of nine Saints’ hitters tallied at least one hit Saturday night, exemplifying how dominant their offense was. Coach Milam was pleased with his offense’s exhibition in their first win of the young season.

“That is how you bury a team, you put up some runs and then you keep putting up runs and [eventually] they will gas out,” Milam stated. “If you score a few and then let [your opponent] back in the game, let them hang around for a while, that is how you lose baseball games to an inferior team.”

The Saints will look for another complete team effort as they continue play at Jackie Robinson Field on Sunday as they host the visiting Philippines Baseball Group. First pitch is at 6:05 p.m.

Contributors:

• Saints reporter Tyler Bowne (San Diego State)
• Edited by Saints reporter Taylor Dowdy (Arizona)
• Saints photographer Carina Sanchez (California State University Los Angeles)