IRVINE, CA – The California Collegiate League 2025 regular season has come to an end, meaning the playoffs are upon us. And the CCL South Division wildcard matchup is set and it is between the Orange County Riptide and the visiting Arroyo Seco Saints.  

The season series between the Saints and Riptide were even with wins and losses, an even .500 record. Both teams won two games on the road and lost one as well. 

During the season series, the Riptide outscored the Saints 50 to 41 runs. That was with help with a 20-8 Riptide victory back on July 18th, that ended in eight innings. But the last time these two teams played, the Saints came out on top with a 7-2 victory on July 26th.  

This 2025 playoff game will be the third time in a row that the Saints and Riptide play each other. In the 2023 playoffs, Arroyo Seco and Orange County matched up against each other in the Divisional round for a chance to go to the CCL Finals. The Saints would win the game 1-0 and then go on to lose to the Healdsburg Prune Packers in the finals. 

The following year, in the 2024 playoffs the Riptide got their revenge. They would beat the Saints in a 4-1 final score. The Riptide would eventually lose the next round to the Conejo Oaks, who would go on and win the championship.  

Entering this playoff game, both teams are coming off a loss, both in different ways. The Riptide lost to the San Luis Obispo back on July 27th. The Riptide were playing for the first seed and a first round bye, but lost 4-3 in extra innings. With the winning RBI coming off the bat of Diego Murillo (Northeastern Oklahoma).  

With the Saints, they lost a high scoring 10-9 game to the MLB Academy Barons. The Saints gave up six runs in the top of the ninth, with position players Lane Haworth (Wichita State) and Gannon Snyder (Wichita State) on the mound.

Arroyo Seco were having a little fun before the end of the season since they already locked a playoff spot and could not move up any higher in the standings.  

Players to watch for the Saints is recently Central Michigan commit Joey Milto who has both team leading stats in RBIs (32) and homeruns (four). Other players to watch are Trotter Enright (Long Beach State) and Jacob Freer (Azusa Pacific) who are both tied with a team lead of 43 hits.  

For the Riptide, it is Bradley Navarro (Utah) who has the team lead in hits with 46. Other players to watch for Orange County are Reid Montgomery (Long Beach State) with team leading 26 RBIs and Carter Danz (Northwestern) with team leading four homeruns.  

It is not confirmed but the expected starting pitchers tonight are Cody Turner (Lee) for the Saints and Trey Telfer (San Diego State) for the Riptide. These teams will battle it out tonight at 7 p.m. at Great Park in Irvine.  

Contributors:

• Saints reporter: Nick Olquin (Ashland)
• Saints photographer: Bella Calagna (Trinity)