IRVINE, CA — “[Our momentum was stunted] in 25 different ways. Defenders fall asleep, your catcher gets beat up and people in the dugout start pacing and stop paying attention,” were the words uttered by Saints Head Coach Aaron Milam after his team’s pitching staff wavered in the late innings on Saturday night.

The Arroyo Seco Saints (4-2) were their own worst enemy Saturday night at The Great Park as they lost their first away game of the summer to the Orange County Riptide (4-4) by way of a 9-4 final score.

Various self-inflicted errors pained the Saints in Irvine, which is typically not a recipe for success. Multiple base-running mistakes, a few fielding errors and even a few wild pitches were all contributing factors to the Saints’ loss.

Coach Milam handed the baseball to Luke Ballantyne (Biola) to begin the game against the Riptide. Ballantyne rose to the occasion, tossing three innings of shutout ball. He also added three strikeouts to his stat line.

Starting pitching has not been a problem for the Saints so far in 2025; it has been the bullpen that tends to be shaky.

Saints’ pitcher Joseph Estrada (Lewis-Clark State) looked dominant in his first inning of the summer in the fourth. In the fifth, however, Riptide catcher Jimmy Zakhar (Transfer Portal) reached base via a hit-by-pitch and scored on a passed ball. Estrada was able to escape the fifth inning only allowing one run; the Riptide led 1-0 after five.

The sixth inning was even more disastrous for the Saints’ bullpen. John Iacono (Biola) allowed the Riptide to tack on three more to their total. Iacono only lasted 0.2 innings and put the Saints behind 4-0 heading into the seventh.

Masen McDonnell (Transfer Portal) shut down the Riptide in the seventh, keeping the Saints’ deficit at four.

Unlike the first seven innings, the Saints’ bats woke up in their half of the eighth inning. An Eli Lopez (Cal State Fullerton) RBI single and a three-RBI double from Lane Haworth (Transfer Portal) knotted the score at four runs apiece after 7.5 innings.

“We struggled the whole game trying to score runs,” mentioned Haworth. “When they put up four [runs] and you’re down, you have to find a way [to get the job done]. I think we had a good [eighth] inning, and it was fun to see the ball get down for a double.”

The Saints’ success concluded after the visiting half of the eighth, however. The Riptide consistently tortured the Saints’ bullpen in the bottom of the eighth inning, forcing three pitchers to enter the game in the home half. The Riptide posted five runs in their half of the eighth, putting the nail in the Saints’ coffin with a 9-4 final.

After the loss, Coach Milam shared his thought process regarding his seemingly uncharacteristic use of so many pitchers.

“I am not patient,” Milam commented. “I have done this too long; I am getting too old. If you walk two dudes, I am coming to get you [out of the game]. Hopefully, we figure it out on the management level where we have the right matchups on the right days.”

While Lopez and Trotter Enright (Long Beach State) were able to stay hot Saturday night, the Saints’ offense did not have its typical firepower. Haworth mentioned postgame that in the first half of the game, the offense did not do its job.

Both Coach Milam and Haworth also acknowledged that the Saints’ pitchers lost control of the game as crunch time loomed.

Combining both offensive and pitching inconsistencies yields the answer to the questions surrounding the Saints’ loss: Saturday night was not a complete and synthetic team effort.

The Saints lost their four-game winning streak but will look to get back in the win column Sunday afternoon as they visit the Conejo Oaks at Sparky Anderson Field for another CCL clash. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

Contributors:

• Saints reporter Tyler Bowne (San Diego State)
• Edited by Saints reporter Nick Olquin (Ashland)
• Saints photographer Carina Sanchez (California State University Los Angeles)