THOUSAND OAKS, CA – The Arroyo Seco Saints 2025 summer season in the California Collegiate League South Divisional round against the Conejo Oaks. 

This game determined who would represent the South Division in the CCL Championship. It saw the reigning champions in the Oaks, and the Saints, who represented the South Division in the championship back in 2023.  

The game started as a pitching duel between starting pitchers Charlie Decker (Puget Sound) for the Oaks and Danny Veloz (Hawaii) for the Saints.  

Both pitchers had a stellar performance. With a combined 12 strikeouts and only two batters walked, across 15 innings pitched.  

But it would be Arroyo Seco who would strike first in the game in the top of the third inning. With Joey Milto (Central Michigan) up to bat, he would hit a single which would turn into RBI with bringing Levi Maddela (portal) home.  

The Saints’ 1-0 lead would not last long with the Oaks tying it up in the bottom of the fifth. As Landon West (Rice) would hit an RBI double to bring home Nolan Johnson (Duke). 

In the next inning for the Oaks, they would find a way to take the lead. Tyler Holley (Cal State Fullerton) would blast a double, giving the chance for Ethan Gonzalez (Cal State Los Angeles) and Jacob Galloway (Oregon State) to get across home plate with a 3-1 Oaks lead.  

The Oaks found a way to take the lead, and they would not let it go. A lot of the credit goes to Conejo’s pitcher, Decker, who only allowed four hits throughout the game, across his complete nine inning game.  

The final score of the game was not in favor of the Saints, but Head Coach Aaron Milam was still proud of how his team performed in the game, and throughout the season.  

“These guys never got discouraged, our nucleus kept going,” Milam said. “That says a lot about them, not just as baseball players, but as human.” 

With the season finished, Coach Milam reflects on one of his favorite memories in the season, and it was a recent one. 

“I don’t have the greatest memory, but for it was [the wildcard game],” Milam stated. “We were not expected to win that game. We put up a couple, they responded, we could have gone away, and we didn’t.” 

After the game, Milam called one last huddle with the team, for the final thoughts of the 2025 CCL summer season. After the meeting, Milam wanted to leave one last message to his team and staff: 

“Even on your worst day, there’s something that you get from it,” said Milam. “You learn a lot more from failure than you do success.” 

Overall, the Saints finished the season with a 16-20 record and one playoff win. Make sure to keep an eye out on the Saints website so you do not miss the 2026 summer season. 

Contributors:

• Saints reporter: Nick Olquin (Ashland)
• Saints editor: Taylor Dowdy (Arizona)
• Saints photographer: Bella Calagna (Trinity)