PASADENA, CA- It’s been a season of trends for the Arroyo Seco Saints (17-14) who are riding one of their best and most fun trends to victory recently: hitting home runs against the OC Riptide (17-15). 

Aidan Pollock (Nevada) took the mound for the Saints with only one start all season under his belt. That start was a big one, as he went 5 innings and allowed only one run in a huge 6-5 extra-innings win over the Santa Barbara Foresters, the only time the Saints were able to best the Foresters all season.

Pollock got off to a great start, striking out two and allowing only one baserunner in the top of the first to keep the game a scoreless tie.  

Joey Donnelly (UC Berkeley) got things off to an even grander start offensively. After Jakob Schardt (Fullerton) walked and Easton Elliot (Long Beach) and Joey Craig (New Mexico State) singled, Donnelly came up with the bases loaded and crushed a ball 393 feet, clearing the right-center field fence. With only one inning complete, the Saints already had a 4-0 lead.  

Pollock had some troubles with his command in the top of the second, walking three straight batters to open the inning, which loaded the bases with nobody out. But Josh Livingston (Wichita State) turned a nice double play at first base and Pollock got out of the inning surrendering just one run.  

The Saints’ offense wasn’t impressed with the Riptide’s tally. They put up four more runs in the second inning, highlighted by another long home run by Schardt. The Fullerton Phenom’s bat flip has become a familiar sight for Saints fans, as the 373-footer marked his third homer in his past four games.  

“I’m not really a power hitter, I’ve never really been a power hitter in my life, that’s why I’ve been batting leadoff and I batted second for [Fullerton] so it’s kind of crazy to me, but I just believe it has to do with my timing,” Schardt said of his recent power surge. “It has to do with the rhythm I have, and if I keep that up, I’m going to keep hitting balls hard.”  

It also continued the Saints’ remarkable trend of destroying Riptide pitching with the longball. The Saints have 17 home runs on the season and 11 of them have come against the Riptide.  

Schardt couldn’t explain his team’s success against their Orange County rivals; it just seems to be one of those unexplainable patterns that happen in baseball sometimes.  

“I don’t know, all I know is that we’re not trying to hit home runs, it’s just coming naturally,” Schardt said.  

Livingston had an RBI single in the bottom of the second and the Saints led 8-1 heading into the third inning.  

In the top of the third however, Pollock continued to struggle with command and the Riptide got two runs back to make the score 8-3. 5 runs still felt like a comfortable lead, but with the unfinished 18-12 fiasco against the Oaks fresh in mind, the Saints knew they needed to buckle down defensively even with the lead.  

That became even more important after the Saints’ offense went down without scoring in the bottom of the third.  

Fortunately, Pollock settled down a bit in the fourth, getting two more strikeouts and a groundout without surrendering a run.  

The Saints didn’t score in their half of the fourth either but continued to feel good thanks to Jace Presley (Portal). Presley had a nice bounce-back first inning after a couple of rough innings, allowing no runs despite a decent Riptide threat.  

The Saints didn’t score in the fifth or sixth either, but Presley continued backing them up with scoreless innings in relief. He induced a 6-4-3 double play in the top of the sixth and pitched a one-two-three inning in the top of the seventh. Going into the Saints half of the seventh, the score was still 8-3 Arroyo Seco.  

Presley felt relaxed in his three innings of work which is a good sign for an important Saints reliever who looks to get back on track.

“Kinda just slowing things down out there was what helped me out the most tonight,” Presley said.  

In the seventh, a familiar suspect re-woke up the Saints bats. Alex Birge (UC Berkeley) blasted another home run, his fourth of the season with all of them coming against the Riptide at home. The 381-foot bomb sparked a three-run rally that gave the Saints their largest lead of the game, 11-3.  

It also repositioned him in the Saint’s teamwide battle for the most home runs. Schardt seemed to pull away with five home runs on the season, but Birge’s fourth puts him right back in the race. 

Tyler Herges (Azusa Pacific) came on in relief of Presley in the top of the eighth and pitched the Saints’ fifth straight scoreless inning. The Saints bats went down without scoring in the bottom of the eighth, but it didn’t matter much.  

Ahmad Harajli (Miami Ohio) handled the ninth cleanly for the Saints and the final score was indeed an 11-3 blowout.  

 The bullpen’s five shutout innings was key to the win, even playing a part in keeping the offense on fire.  

“They’re making it quick and easy on us out there, so it makes us excited to come in and hit,” Birge said. “It’s just a good flow of the game.  

Craig’s presence in the middle of the lineup was also welcomed, as he got two hits, reached base three times, and scored three runs. Given he’s been batting cleanup of late, he could be a fourth piece for “The Gauntlet” of Birge, Donnelly, and Livingston moving forward.  

“We need a right-hander as a part of the Gauntlet moving forward,” Livingston said. “When we see these lefties, we need a guy like [Craig] to step up. It makes it easier for us with a right-hander in there.” 

For his part, Craig would be energized to be a full-time member of the fearsome Saints’ middle of the order.  

“It’s easy to go when all these guys go,” Craig said. “They light the fire and I’m just here to try to help them out, get another quality at-bat.  

The Saints will need a lot of great at-bats strung together to beat their next opponent: the Conejo Oaks. The Oaks offense has often haunted the Saints this season, and the Saints need to neutralize that by putting up a big number themselves.  

The Saints take on the Oaks at 4:30 PM tomorrow at Sparky Anderson Field in Thousand Oaks, California. Trajan Lee (Trinity) will get the ball and the tall task of facing the Oaks offense, while the Saints bats look to do their best to back him up.

They will also finish a game they began on July 18 and had to be paused due to the lights at Jackie Robinson Field turning off at 10 pm. The score of that game is currently 18-12 Saints with 0 outs and the bases empty in the bottom of the 8th inning. 

Contributors:  

• Saints reporter Ethan Inman (Southern California)  
• Saints reporter Noah Pineda (UT Austin)
• Saints photographer Elijah Hickmann (Cal Baptist)