Saints Lose Early Lead to Blues

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA - The Arroyo Seco Saints (6-12) were unable to hang onto their lead in game three of their road trip against the San Luis Obispo Blues (19-5), losing 8-9. After the Saints roared ahead in the bottom of the second, the Blues were able to catch up and held  the Saints to their eight runs.

The Saints entered this game with a lot of momentum from their performance last night, where they defeated the Blues 7-3.

Both teams brought high intensity to the field. Sinsheimer Stadium provided a major league-like atmosphere to the game, motivating a lot of the Saints to put on a show.

That is exactly what the Saints did during the top of the second inning. 

The inning started with Zach Leite (Old Dominion University) walking, then Evan Reiter (Santa Ana College) hitting a single. Dylan Immel (Undecided) loaded the bases on a catcher's interference call.

Camden Andrews (California Baptist University) gave the Saints their first run by taking a 95 MPH pitch to the back, bringing in Zach Leite on the hit by pitch. 

The runs kept flowing from there as Donnie Morgan (Loyola Marymount University) hit a 2 RBI single. Andrews then scored on a wild pitch.

Brayden Flores (Loyola Marymount University), who is now tied for third in RBI leaders with 19, hit a double, scoring 2 more runs, making the score 6-0.

Carson Panarisi brought Flores in, then was brought in by Evan Reiter to make the score 8-0 going into the bottom of the second. 

For the Saints, this is where the scoring would end.

The Blues got a couple runs on the board for themselves after Saints starting pitcher Thomas Peck (University of Nevada - Reno) loaded the bases, allowing Jake Hixenbaugh and Cesar Chavez to each record an RBI, bringing the score to 8-2.

Hixenbaugh then tripled in the bottom of the third to bring in three more runs for the Blues, further shortening the Saints' lead to 8-5. 

Cash Carroll (Santa Barbara City College) stepped onto the mound for the Saints in the fourth inning exuding confidence.

"You kind of just want to embrace the moment, you know, and just have fun," Carroll said. "The adrenaline gets to you a little bit, and kind of takes over, but at the end of the day it's nothing personal."

Carroll was able to hold the Blues scoreless in the fourth. However, in the fifth, they were able to bring the tie within reach and cut the Saints' lead; 8-7.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Blues' long claw back came to a head after scoring two runs to make it 9-8.

Despite a few opportunities to regain the lead, the Saints ultimately fell to the Blues with the final score,  9-8. 

"You can't let your foot off the brake, you know," Carroll said. "We took a big lead, but then we had nine unanswered runs, and that's just because we became complacent, and we just kind of thought it was gonna be handed to us after that, but that's just not the reality of baseball." 

The Saints are now heading home and ready to shift gears towards their upcoming game against the Santa Barbara Foresters on Tuesday at Jackie Robinson Field, with first pitch scheduled for 5:35 p.m. PDT.

Contributors

• Saints Reporter: Leila El Sabbagh (University of La Verne)

• Saints Photographer: Aaliyah Alamillo (University of La Verne)