COMPTON, CA- Even though we’re only seven games into the season, the Arroyo Seco Saints have displayed impressive resilience in the first few weeks of the season.

The Saints’ resiliency was showcased again on Tuesday as they achieved a 5-4 comeback victory against the MLB Academy Barons at the MLB Youth Academy to improve to 5-2 on the season.

Arroyo Seco had two days off, which manager Aaron Milam believes attributed to the sluggish start offensively.

“If you take two months off, you’re going to have to recalibrate your swing and your timing,” Milam said. “But if you take two days off, you’re still going to have to recalibrate; it’s just in a different way. It’s recalibrating your acuity.”

One of the players who had to recalibrate was tonight’s starting pitcher.

Pitcher Trajan Lee (Trinity) got the start for the Saints one whole week after his last pitching appearance and had a dominant first inning, striking out two. His second inning started strong, too, with Lee striking out two of the first three hitters of the inning with a single in between. After the second strikeout, things started to unravel for the Lee and the Saints as five straight Barons reached base and they totaled four runs, highlighted by a three-run bases-clearing triple from right fielder Raymond Jenkins (Cerritos).

Lee bounced back in his next two innings as he retired six of his last seven batters faced. Although his line of allowing four runs in four innings isn’t flashy, he pitched much better than it suggested, as he recorded eight strikeouts.

While Lee was trying to salvage his outing after allowing four runs, the Saints’ offense was struggling against Baron’s starter, Dante Zamudio (UC Irvine), as he held the Saints scoreless in his first five innings.

Arroyo Seco finally got to Zamudio in the sixth. The first run of the inning came on a wild pitch that brought CF Jakob Schardt (Cal State Fullerton) to score on a wild pitch. Shortly after, shortstop Adrian Lopez (USC) went deep to left field for his first home run. In just a matter of moments, Arroyo Seco went from being down four runs to being down one.

One inning later, the Saints tied it up at four as designated hitter Cam Conley (Pepperdine) hit an RBI single.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Barons had a golden opportunity to take the lead after loading the bases with three walks against Tyler Herges (Azusa Pacific). Still, much like he has in many of his appearances, Herges spaced the inning unscathed as he struck out designated hitter Andrew Pyle (Fullerton College) to ignite the Saints dugout.

Leaving the bases loaded didn’t take long to come back and haunt the Barons as the Saints took the lead in the top of the eighth on a double by catcher Nick Lazzara (Trinity).

With the lead at one, Arroyo Seco turned to two pitchers making their season debuts on the mound to close the game.

Aisea Ahokovi (Azusa Pacific) pitched a scoreless eighth and Braydon Sanford (Oral Roberts) closed it out in the ninth to seal the win for the Saints.

The Saints return home on Wednesday where they will face the San Diego Sunrays.

• Saints reporter Dylan Gonzales (Fresno State)
• Saints photographer Armando Jacobo (Long Beach)