Saints Get it Done in the Ninth

VENTURA, CA - After being down by four runs for nearly all of Saturday afternoon's game, the Arroyo Seco Saints' (10-15) offense exploded in the bottom of the ninth to storm ahead of the Conejo Oaks (15-9), winning 5-4. 

Saints starter Hudson Carvalho (University of Oregon) started the game off strong, only giving up two runs in the fifth. Carvalho ended his outing with one hit, two strikeouts and two earned runs in five innings pitched.

The Saints' offense was silent for a majority of the game, mustering only a Sean Asperger (Undecided) double and an Evan Reiter (Santa Ana College) triple, neither of which led to putting runs on the board. 

Eventually in the seventh, the Oaks added two more runs to their lead, making it 4-0. However, the Saints weren't done, utilizing every opportunity they had in the ninth.

Reiter led off the inning with a single that Oaks second baseman Grant Rodriguez was unable to handle, Canon King (Undecided) was hit by a pitch and Cam Andrews (California Baptist University) walked to load the bases.

Dylan Immel (Undecided) hit a hard ground ball to short and brought in Reiter to get the Saints on the board.

Bryce Robinette (Undecided) was put in to hit for Jacob Freer (Undecided) and hit a single into center field, bringing in Andrews and King. That brought up two of the Saints' All-Stars, Brayden Flores (Loyola Marymount University) and Zach Leite (Old Dominion University).

Flores crushed the ball into left field for a double, tying up the game and bringing the Saints back to life.

"I was 0-3 or 0-4 and just thought, 'You know what? Got nothing to lose, so I'm just gonna swing and hopefully get a hit,' and I did," Flores said.

Leite gave the Saints the lead with a sacrifice fly to center, bringing in Flores.

The Saints then looked to Griffin Rogers (Occidental College) to close out the game after the Oaks were able to get runners on with just one out.

"I haven't pitched in a little bit, so I just was excited to be on the mound," Rogers said. "It's awesome when the dugout gets engaged. You really feel the support from all of them, so it was awesome to have that."

Rogers forced a pop-up out of Brandon Contreras and struck out Owen Meli to seal the game for the Saints, extending their win streak to three games.

"The Saints are a July team," Flores said. We're turning the corner soon."

The Saints will be back at home tomorrow to face the Conejo Oaks again at 5:35 p.m. PDT with streaming available on the Arroyo Seco Saints YouTube channel.

Contributors:

• Saints Reporter: Leila El Sabbagh

• Saints Photographer: Aaliyah Alamillo