Saints look to get back on track against Riptide

PASADENA, CA — After a streak of narrow losses, the Arroyo Seco Saints (2-4) look to regain some momentum Saturday afternoon as they face the Orange County Riptide (7-1) at Jackie Robinson Memorial Field.

The Saints are coming off a 12-10 loss to the Academy Barons (3-3) on Friday, in which they led 10-5 heading into the ninth inning but couldn't finish the job. Arroyo Seco has lost its past three games, each of which came by two runs or fewer.

Meanwhile, the Riptide are one of the hottest teams in the CCL, having won five straight games entering Saturday's matchup. Orange County boasts a 7-1 record and sits in first place in the CCL South, with its only loss so far coming to the Conejo Oaks (3-1) on June 6.

The Saints and Riptide are set to face each other six times during the regular season, with Saturday representing their second matchup of the summer. In their previous game Tuesday, Orange County escaped with a 6-5 win, as Arroyo Seco fell just short of closing the gap in the bottom of the ninth.

Brayden Flores (Loyola Marymount) and Canon King (UC San Diego) will look to continue their hot starts to the season after both homered in the fifth inning Friday. Through six games, Flores is batting .409 with a team-high 11 RBIs, while King leads the Saints with a .529 average and 1.482 OPS.

First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. A live broadcast of the game will be available on the Saints' YouTube channel.

Contributors:

• Saints reporter: Bennett Christofferson (USC)
• Saints photographer: Aaliyah Alamillo (University of La Verne)