IRVINE, CA- The Arroyo Seco Saints went on the road and defeated the Orange County Riptide 6-3 to open up its California Collegiate League season with a record of 1-0.

Arroyo Seco received early offense and solid pitching, as the pitching staff allowed only three runs.

Saints manager Aaron Milam believes that they will have a lot of success in the future if they continue to pitch like they did tonight.

“If we can have that kind of performance on a nightly basis, we’re going to win a lot of baseball games,” Milam said. 

Danny Veloz (Hawai’i) got the start for the Saints and wasn’t going to be stretched out for more than 60 pitches. 

In three innings of work, Veloz allowed two runs on five hits while striking out two hitters. 

The Saints wasted no time getting the offense going, scoring four runs in the first inning. Center fielder Crew McChesney (BYU) got things started with a leadoff single. He later scored on an error by the Riptide.

Arroyo Seco added two more runs on an RBI single from left-fielder Joey Donnelly (UC Berkley). Donnelly scored on an RBI single from third-baseman Josh Livingston (Wichita State).

Before even throwing a pitch, Veloz had a 4-0 lead to work with. After allowing a leadoff single, Veloz retired three straight Riptide hitters to get out of the inning. 

The Saints threatened to add to their lead in the top of the second, loading the bases and forcing the Riptide to take out starting pitcher Sammy Petrocelli (Stanford), who recorded just four outs. They were unable to capitalize as Riptide reliever Arthur Liu (UC Berkeley) struck out two straight hitters to escape the jam. 

Orange County cut the Arroyo Seco lead in half in the bottom of the inning after hitting two singles and a double. 

Both teams were held scoreless in the third inning. 

Saints pitcher Tyler Herges (Azusa Pacific) started the bottom of the fourth inning by giving two hits and a hit batter to load the bases with no outs and struck out three straight hitters to keep the Saints up 4-2 after four innings.

Herges continued to showcase his strikeout stuff at the bottom of the fifth, striking out two more and giving him five in just two innings.

Arroyo Seco added two more runs in the top of the sixth inning to go up 6-2.

One inning later, the Riptide added a run on a sacrifice fly from Ace Reese (Houston) to make it 6-3. 

In the bottom of the ninth, Saints pitcher Kobe Minchey tossed a scoreless inning to seal the win for the Saints. 

With the win, Arroyo Seco improves to 1-0 and will return home to Jackie Robinson Field in Pasadena on June 9 to take on the Conejo Oaks.

The game will be streamed live on our YouTube channel.

Contributors:

• Saints Reporter Dylan Gonzales (Fresno State)
• Saints Photographer Noah Pineda (UT Austin)