PASADENA, CA- The Arroyo Seco Saints (21-16) entered the wild card round of the California Collegiate League playoffs versus a familiar opponent: the Orange County Riptide. A season ago, the Saints eliminated the Riptide with a 1-0 victory in the CCL South championship game, and they looked to move past their rivals again in hopes of making it back to the CCL Championship series. 

Starter Danny Veloz (Hawaii) played steadily for the Saints in the top of the first inning. Despite a runner reaching and advancing to second base on an error, Veloz retired the other three batters he faced in the inning with relative ease and emerged with the score still knotted at 0-0.  

Unfortunately, the Saints could not take advantage of the chance to grab an early lead as they were set down by Riptide starter Sammy Cova (Oregon).  

Rocco Gump (Northwestern State) of the Riptide got the first hit for either team in the top of the second with a line-drive single into center field, but Veloz retired three straight including back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.  

Nick Lazzara (Trinity) responded with the Saints’ first game hit in the bottom of the second, lacing a single to left field after a great at-bat where he worked the count to three balls and two strikes.  But he didn’t make it past second base as Cova recorded his second straight scoreless inning.  

The Riptide broke through first in the top of the third. After loading the bases with one out, two Riptide runners crossed the plate on a would-be inning-ending double play that turned out to be a throwing error, and then Gump continued to be the offensive star of the game with an RBI single to make it 3-0 Riptide.  

The Saints threatened to cut into that lead immediately in the bottom of the third. Joey Craig (Portal) reached base on a bloop single and Sheehan O’Connor (New Mexico State) followed that up with a walk to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Craig and O’Connor ended up advancing to second and third on a double steal with one out, but they were stranded there as the Saints still couldn’t get the big hit against Cova.  

For his part, Veloz bounced back the best way any pitcher can in the top of the fourth: by striking out the side, which kept the Saints a rally away from gaining the lead.  

They finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth. Lazzara led off the inning with his second hit of the game, a booming ground-rule double to left center. Two batters later, Adrian Lopez (Southern California) followed up with a perfectly placed opposite-field ground ball single to put the Saints on the board. They went into the fifth inning still trailing 3-1 however.  

Veloz was unfazed and worked around one hit for a quick, scoreless top of the fifth.  

The Saints finally knocked Cova out of the game after Jakob Schardt (Fullerton) reached second base on a Riptide missed catch error in right field. But Riptide reliever Arthur Liu (UC Berkeley) came in and recorded back-to-back strikeouts to keep the Saints off the board again.  

To make matters worse, the Riptide got the run back thanks in large part to none other than Gump. He started the Riptide rally with a single and then scored later in the inning on a single by Jackson Kemmerer (Nevada-Reno), sliding around the tag on a play at the plate to extend the Riptide lead back to three runs, 4-1.  

The Saints had the basepaths come back to haunt them again in the bottom of the sixth, as a key baserunner was thrown out trying to steal, ending the inning without an additional Saints score.  

Andrew Wright (Fullerton) came in and stabilized things defensively for the Saints in the top of the seventh, pitching a smooth one-two-three inning to keep the score at 4-1.  

Unfortunately, the Saints also went down in order in their half of the seventh. Still facing a three-run deficit, their chances to make it to the next round were waning.  

Wright continued to deal in the bottom of the seventh, breezing through his second consecutive scoreless inning while allowing only one baserunner.  

The Saints tried their hardest to get something, anything going offensively. Schardt hit an infield single to lead off the inning and Lazzara walked to reach base for the third time on the night, but both runners were stranded again with the score still 4-1. Suddenly and shockingly, the Saints were down to their final inning of the season if they could not get some runs across.  

Keeping the Riptide score the same was all taken care of. Wright continued to dominate, pitching another one-two-three inning in what turned out to be his best pitching appearance of the season. The Saints just had to hope it wasn’t too little too late.  

Ultimately, this just wasn’t the offense’s night. Liu pitched his fifth inning of scoreless baseball in relief and the Saints watched their season come to an end with a 4-1 loss.  

Despite the loss to end the season, many of the Saints players showed immense gratitude for their teammates and coaches after the game. Lazzara was one player to whom the season was extra special.  

“This place is always going to hold a special place in my heart,” Lazzara said. “It was amazing to come to California, first time I’ve been to California in probably 10 years, and I loved every minute of it. I would 1000% do it again.” 

“Hope that in the future other DIII guys get the shot I did too.”  

That attitude sums up the spirit of this Saints team better than anything else: a group of guys who are just so happy they had the opportunity to play baseball together.  

For that reason, the 2024 season will be one that nobody will ever forget.  

Contributors:  

• Saints reporter Ethan Inman (Southern California)  
• Edited by Saints reporter Noah Pineda (UT Austin)
• Saints photographer Jordan Teller