PASADENA, CA – Blake Beers struck out seven over five strong innings, and the Saints led 3-2 after six, but the Blues chipped away against the Saints bullpen in the seventh and eighth innings to rally and pull away with the 7-3 win in a CCL matchup Thursday night at Brookside Park.

In the seventh inning and the Saints (10-19, 8-17 CCL) still holding a 3-2 lead, San Luis Obispo (19-16, 9-11 CCL) rallied with two more runs on a one-out home run to right-center field, giving the Blues a 4-3 lead. The very next batter was hit by reliever Reed Osborne, and just like that, Osborne was tossed from the game. This forced the move to Bobby Fulkerson out of the bullpen, but Fulkerson, who was originally slated to take the night off, retired the next two batters to keep the deficit at one.

“Once Reed got tossed, I was ready to go” Fulkerson said when asked about needing to go into the game without warming up. “It’s pretty much just a switch, and a turn of energy.”

Arroyo Seco would do its best to rally from a run down, getting the tying run into scoring position in the seventh inning, but the Blues added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning and a later run in the ninth to take a 7-3 lead and put the game out of reach.

With Arroyo Seco staked to an early 2-0 lead, the Blues answered back, tying the game against Saints’ starter Blake Beers with a pair of RBI singles in the third inning. The game would not be tied for long. In the bottom half of the inning Arroyo Seco mounted a late rally to take the lead. With two outs and Nic Lacayo on first base, Drew Cowley and Brennan McKenzie chipped in a pair on singles, the former moving Lacayo into scoring position, and the latter bringing Lacayo around to score to complete the two-out rally and give Arroyo Seco a 3-2 lead.

The Saints got on the board early, with Cameron Briggs and recent addition Angelo Armenta ripping a single to left and walking to give Arroyo Seco early momentum with runners on first and second. Two batters later, Drew Cowley doubled to left field, plating both runners and giving the Saints an early 2-0 lead.

HE SAID IT

RHP Bobby Fulkerson:

“I love that feeling of being pressured. With runners on, it excites me. I know that I’ll get the job done with the runners on.”

Assistant Coach Matt Troupe:

“We had a great start from [Blake] Beers, Reed [Osborne] came in and was lights out and then one pitch resulted in a two-run homerun, and the whole debacle happened. Our hitters put some good swings on the ball. They hit balls hard right at people, and unfortunately we made some mistakes on the defensive side.”

“He’s the most confident guy in the game [Blake Beers], hands down. He always wants the ball in his hands, and he’s always going to attack.

UP NEXT

The Saints continue their homestand with a with game one of a CCL series against the Academy Barons beginning at 6:05 before traveling to Compton to play the Barons on Saturday before returning to Brookside on Sunday for the finale.