PASADENA, CA- One of the biggest tests for any sports team is how they rebound from a tough defeat.

After losing its first game of the season on Thursday, the Arroyo Seco Saints bounced back with a resounding victory, demolishing the Orange County Riptide 11-3 and improving their record to 4-1.

Shortstop Adrian Lopez (USC) had a bounce-back performance days after going 0-5 with three strikeouts in the 8-5 loss to the Walnut Creek Crawdads on Thursday.

Lopez totaled three hits, two going for extra bases, a stolen base, and three RBIs.

Saints’ manager Aaron Milam had high praise for the shortstop.

“He’s a high-level athlete and he’s got a professional mentality,” Milam said. “Way to bounce back again; that’s what we expect of him.”

Having games nearly every day of the summer allows Lopez to start each gameday with a fresh mindset.

“It’s a good opportunity to flush [the struggles], understanding when you come out here for early work and batting practice, just working on the stuff that didn’t go your way the day before,” Lopez said.

Lopez’s big week goes beyond Friday night, as he announced a few days earlier that he is transferring to USC and expressed his excitement about joining the new Big Ten school.

“Just the atmosphere, it’s a different environment and I’m just ready for the challenge of traveling,” Lopez said.

While Lopez and the offense deserve their fair share of credit, the pitching deserves just as much.

Starting pitcher Danny Veloz (Hawaii) pitched five dominant innings without allowing a run.

Veloz allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out six, all while working with a pitch limit of 65 as proposed by his coaches at Hawaii.

This was the second time in as many starts that Veloz has faced the Riptide. One of the main differences between these starts was the primary pitch Veloz used to get batters out.

“Last week, I was throwing my slider real heavy,” Veloz said. “Today was throwing the changeup to right-handed batters, pounding the zone and getting ahead early.

Lopez says playing defense behind Veloz is “really easy” because of his ability to throw strikes.

Before even throwing a pitch, Veloz had a five-run lead to work with as the Saints got to Riptide starter Luke Sterner (BYU) early.

The first five hitters for the Saints all recorded hits.

Arroyo Seco wasn’t done yet. It added four more runs in the second inning to take a 9-0.

“It makes it so much easier as a pitcher,” Veloz said regarding pitching with the large lead.

The rest of the game didn’t see as much offense. The Saints scored their last two runs on passed balls in the eighth, and the Riptide scored their only three runs in the top of the ninth without recording a hit.

With the 11-3 win and a 4-1 record, Arroyo Seco heads to Santa Barbara, where they will face the Santa Barbara Foresters on Saturday at 4:30, with Caleb Reyes (Cal Poly Pamona) getting the start on the mound.