PASADENA, CA- For the second time in as many nights, the Arroyo Seco Saints found themselves in an extra-innings contest. Unlike Tuesday night’s heartbreaking loss to the Barons, the Saints came out on top in a 5-4 win against the Santa Barbara Foresters to snap their short two-game skid.

After not getting the start, Josh Livingston (Wichita State) came into the game midway and delivered the game-winning sacrifice fly in the 10th.

The Saints dropped their first two meetings this season against the Foresters, which made this win feel especially good.

“This [win] is big,” Livingston said. “Especially with the way we’ve been playing recently… really good team out there in the Foresters, and we needed a momentum swing, and hopefully, this is the kickstart of something good.”

On the mound for the Saints was Aiden Pollock (Nevada), who delivered a brilliant outing in his first start of the season.

Pollock gave up singles to two of the first three hitters he faced but got out of the inning after getting a ground ball double play.

Left fielder Jakob Scardt (Cal State Fullerton) led off the bottom of the first with a walk but could not score after the next three hitters were retired.

After getting out of damage in the first, Pollock racked up three strikeouts in the next two innings while inducing another double play in the third inning.

Meanwhile, the Saints couldn’t get going offensively as Forester starter Mason Koch (Auburn) stymied the Saints offense with three hitless innings and six punchouts.

Santa Barbara jumped ahead in the fourth after loading the bases with one out and later scoring on a sacrifice fly.

That would be the only run allowed by Pollock on the night, as he went five innings while only being used as a reliever in his prior outings.

“You’re not trying to go out there and throw fireballs for one inning,” Pollock said on the difference between being a starter and coming in from relief. “You actually got to conserve energy…it’s definitely a different process for sure.”

Pollock, who was also the Saints designated hitter, got the first hit of the night in the fifth inning.

Today marked Pollock’s first at-bat in over a month, and he said, “It felt very good.”

Livingston had high praise for Pollock’s two-way prowess.

“Especially since he hasn’t had an at-bat since the first few games, [getting a hit] was really impressive,” Livingston said. “He threw a lot of strikes. I know he was probably tired out there baserunning, but he was really impressive tonight.”

The Saints tied it up in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single from catcher Nick Lazzara (Trinity). One inning later, they went up 3-1 after two sacrifice flys from Livingston and center fielder Crew McChesney (BYU).

The Foresters knotted the game at three in the top of the eighth with two runs of their own.

After a scoreless top of the ninth, the Saints had a chance to walk it off but failed to capitalize as pitcher Jake Dixon (Fresno State) got out of a bases-loaded jam to send the game to extras.

The Foresters scored with the automatic runner on second to go up 6-5, but pitcher Andrew Wright (Cal State Fullerton) got out of the rest of the inning without any damage.

McChesney tied it up with a single in the bottom of the 10th before Livingston won it with a sacrifice fly.

“Early in the count, I was looking to swing big… I got down 0-2; at that point, it was about fouling off good pitches and just waiting for [the pitcher] to make a mistake and get one out to the outfield.

With the win, the Saints improve to 13-10 and will return home Thursday to take on the Ventura County Pirates.

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

• Saints photographer Armando Jacobo (Long Beach)