IRVINE, CA – Entering Saturday night’s game, the Arroyo Seco Saints were riding a four-game losing streak and looking for a way to get back to the win column. 

Their opponent, however, were riding a streak of themselves. The Orange County Riptide’s streak, though, was a seven-game win streak.  

The first half of the game was a pitching duel between starting pitchers Jordan Townley (Cal State San Marcos) for the Saints and Casey Euper (Pepperdine) for the Riptide. 

Both pitchers would record a combined eight strikeouts and seven hits through a combined eight innings pitched.  

But the Saints were the team to strike first in the game, in the fifth inning. As Trotter Enright (Cal State Long Beach) would bat home an RBI single to get Gannon Snyder (Wichita State) across home plate. 

Then quickly after that, Levi Maddela (transfer portal) would ground out to first, but would be able to bring Enright for the Saints’ second run of the inning.  

In the next inning, Snyder will be able to get Joey Milto (transfer portal) home off an RBI single. Pushing the Saints to lead 3-0.  

The Saints were able to get their offense going in this game, with the help of switching up their batting order. One of those changes was putting Jacob Freer (Azusa Pacific) in the lead-off position. Freer on the day would go 3-4 with a walk, and one run earned.  

“It doesn’t matter if it’s the leadoff spot or at the fourth spot,” Freer said on his approach to today’s game. “Just looking to get my pitches and capitalize on them.” 

Even through this new batting order magic, the Riptide were not going away without a fight. In the seventh inning, they would find a way to be only down by one. 

Isaac Cadena (USC) would help bring home the first run of the game for Orange County. It would be a long drive to left field, in which Jackson Reed (Seattle) wouldn’t be able to make the catch. 

Then followed up by a Luke Johnson (Cornell) RBI single, getting Jake Evans (Cal State Long Beach) to score. Making the score after seven, 3-2 Arroyo Seco.  

In the next inning, the Riptide were able to tie up the game. As Evans would hit an RBI single of his own, getting Jake Lambdin (Duke) to home plate.  

The game would remain tied through the ninth inning, meaning we were heading to extra-inning baseball in Irvine.  

Even though the Saints let the Riptide get back in the game, they did not let it shake their mindset heading into the tenth inning.  

Freer said the team’s mindset was to just “keep competing and show a little perseverance.” 

And the Saints would do that. As Maddela would be up to bat and be able to make enough contact on the ball to get Freer home. It would also be aided by a throwing error to the catcher at home plate. Nevertheless, the Saints grabbed the lead 4-3.  

But they wouldn’t stop there. Jax Ryan would have his turn in the batter’s box and have his turn to get the Saints some more runs. As he, too, would make enough contact on the ball to make a run toward first. 

Though a throw over the first baseman’s head would be able to get Enright and Maddela home for a 6-3 Saints lead.  

The Riptide would be able to get one run in the bottom of the tenth, but it would not be enough as the Saints’ losing streak comes to an end with the final score of 6-4.  

The Saints’ message in the dugout before the game was “to get the monkey off their back.” Both Enright and Freer said the team was motivated to do so.  

“We got the monkey off our back… it feels great, the team is super ecstatic,” Enright said. “We’re looking to keep this momentum going and taking it into tomorrow and throughout the rest of the summer.” 

“[It was a] great job by our pitching staff. I thought they competed really well,” Freer said. “And we were able to get a little lucky there at the end. It’s a good team win.” 

Enright also commented on how the Saints plan on keeping this momentum going into the playoffs.  

“Just putting up good [at bats] and winning every pitch,” Enright said. “We’ve been a scrappy team, even if we’re down, our energy stays up. I think that’s the biggest thing right now, keeping the energy up.” 

The Saints’ next game is on Sunday, July 20th, at Jackie Robinson Field, as they play host to the MLB Academy Barons. The first pitch is set to be at 6:05 p.m.  

Contributors:

• Saints reporter: Nick Olquin (Ashland)
• Saints photographer: Sara Cooperson (Bucknell)