Story by Christopher D’Avanzo; Photo by Emily Moran

PASADENA, CA — The Saints (7-12, 5-10 CCL) rallied from a 2-1 deficit against the SoCal Catch (9-8-1, 5-8 CCL) on Saturday night to win by a score of 4-3. In a reversal of fortune from Friday’s affair, where a critical error cost Arroyo Seco the game, the Saints caught some breaks and benefitted from well-timed hitting and poorly-timed miscues from the SoCal defense.

The Saints scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead. With USC’s Christian Moya on first and no outs, his USC teammate and first baseman John Thomas came to the plate. Thomas grounded a ball to second base, but the flip to second was dropped and everyone was safe.

The following batter, pinch hitter Cooper Williams from NMSU, lined a ball to the wall in center that bounced off the glove of Catch center fielder Wacy Crenshaw. Moya came around to score.

“It was good to see bench guys come up clutch,” said head coach Sean Buller, who noted that Williams delivered in a key spot as a pinch hitter. Both Williams and Michigan State catcher Nic Lacayo delivered off the bench.

With one out, Lacayo hit a ground ball to second where a force out was recorded. The double play attempt went awry as the throw sailed past the first baseman and two runners came into score on the error, giving the Saints a 4-2 lead.

The defense was a struggle on both sides. Both of the Catch’s runs were unearned, coming in the fourth inning on a throwing error with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Scampering back to the third on a ball in the dirt, the Saints attempted to pick off a runner who strayed too far down the line but the throw sailed into left field. Both runners scored and the Catch took a 2-1 lead, which they held into the 7th.

The runs were charged to reliever Blake Beers, who allowed 1 ER in a 5 inning effort in relief. Beers came in for JD Russamano in the 3rd, and took the game into the 8th inning.

“He wanted the ball,” said Coach Buller, “He wanted the 8th.”

Beers allowed a walk and a single to start the inning and gave way to Galveston College’s Charles Peacock. Peacock entered with no outs and runners on the corners, but limited the damage to one single run off a sacrifice fly, and held the lead for the Saints. In the ninth, the Saints used U of San Francisco reliever Joey Steele to close the game. Steele shut down the Catch, earning the Saints their first win in the series.

“Charles picked me up,” said Beers, who was the pitcher of record, earning the win for his performance. “You just gotta attack and let your offense come up as many times as possible, keep the momentum on your side.”

UP Next

The Saints travel to La Mirada for game 3 of the set. First pitch is at 4:30 PM on Sunday. It’s the first in a long consecutive stretch of road games for the Saints, whom head up to San Luis Obispo for a match up with the Blues on Tuesday.