SANTA BARBARA, CA — On Sunday, July 6th, the Arroyo Seco Saints (11-10) traveled to Santa to face off against the Foresters (16-7) for the second straight game. The game would be exciting throughout as it reached an astounding 12 innings.  

The Saints started the game off strong, in the second inning with an RBI single from Levi Maddela (Transfer Portal), bringing home Joey Milto (Transfer Portal) for a 1-0 lead.  

Then in the fourth inning, Milto sent a pitch over the right field wall for his third home run of the season. It brought home Cody Turner (Lee University), extending the Saints’ lead to 3-0. 

The Saints were also able to get off to a strong start thanks to their starting pitcher Zach Erdman’s (Transfer Portal) performance. 

“I felt good about it. The team put on runs and supported throughout the innings, pretty happy with it,” said Erdman when asked about his outing.  

In the five innings that Erdman pitched, he faced 20 batters, allowing two runs off four hits, but also added six strikeouts to his totals.  

“I think playing against a good team fires me up, makes me have intense focus on the mound,” Erdman said about his focus. “Having a good environment and a good opponent helps that mental focus.” 

But in the fifth inning, the Foresters got on the scoreboard. Caleb Hoover knocked a single to the outfield, scoring Camden Miller thanks to an error.  

Then, Hoover scored as well, on an RBI single from Zane Becker, making the score 3-2 in favor of the Saints.  

The Foresters in the sixth inning would tie it up on a wild pitch, giving the opportunity for Easton Moomau to tie the game up at a 3-3 score. And in the bottom of the eighth, throwing errors from the Saints would bring Sawyer Farr and give the Foresters the lead of 4-3.  

With the game switching up on the Saints quickly, they had one chance to tie up the game. And with Jonny Garber (Arizona State) up to bat, he was able to bring home Milto, who was able to beat the throw out at home.  

“Really just taking my time, deep breaths and just trying to get the ball in play there,” stated Garber on his performance.  

With the game all tied up at 4 after nine innings, fans in attendance were treated to some extra baseball. And the Saints would strike first in the 10th.  

An RBI Walk from Milto would bring home Lane Haworth (Transfer Portal) for a 5-4 lead. But in the next frame of the inning, Terrence Kiel II hit a SAC fly to bring home Easton Rulli, and like Milto, was able to beat out the throw home.  

In another inning of extra play, the Saints looked to pull away from the Foresters. With help from a groundout RBI from Haworth to bring home Gannon Snyder (Transfer Portal) and an RBI single from Trotter Enright (Cal State Long Beach), bringing home Maddela. 

Even with a 7-5 lead, the Foresters found a way to answer back. Getting his first hit of the ball game, Cole Chamberlain made contact for an RBI double to bring home Farr and Brenton Clark for the 7-7 tie ball game.  

But in the bottom of the 12th, Foresters’ Zane Becker walked it off with an RBI single to give Santa Barbara the 8-7 victory.  

“We’d put up a run, they put up some runs, and we just had some costly errors in the end, and that was really it,” Garber said.  

The Foresters would earn their 17th win of the season and second straight win, both against the Saints. On the other side, the Saints dropped their fifth straight game. 

“We had a really good game today, bouncing back after the tough week,” Garber said on what is next for the Saints. “Just throwing strikes and getting hits, that’s all that we got to do.” 

Up next for the Saints is returning to Jackie Robinson Field with a matchup Tuesday night against the San Diego Bombers, with first pitch starting at 6:05 p.m.  

Contributors:

• Saints’ reporter: Nick Olquin
• Saints’ editor: Tyler Bowne (San Diego State)
• Saints photographer: Bella Calagna (Trinity)