O’Regan, Salazar combine to blank Oaks in 4-0 victory

PASADENA, CA — Throughout the first half of the season, the Arroyo Seco Saints had a glaring weak point: pitching. First-inning deficits and late-game collapses were common occurrences, pushing the Saints toward the bottom of the CCL standings despite one of the league's best offenses.

In the second half, however, Arroyo Seco has flipped the script entirely — and there's no better evidence than its performance Thursday night.

The Saints (12-16) breezed past the Conejo Oaks (17-10) with a 4-0 victory Thursday, marking their fifth win in six games as they continue to thrive in the second half. Joe O'Regan (University of Nevada, Reno) led the charge with six scoreless innings, and Oscar Salazar (Undecided) pitched three more in relief to secure Arroyo Seco's first shutout of the season.

It didn't take long for the Saints to get on the board, as Sean Asperger (Undecided) kicked off the scoring with a double in the first inning. Carson Panarisi (Cal State Los Angeles) and Canon King (UC San Diego) quickly followed with RBIs of their own, putting Arroyo Seco up 3-0 at the end of the first.

From there, the offense stalled; a fifth-inning double by King would plate the only other run of the night, as the Saints struggled to get on base in the later innings. With the way the pitching performed, however, four runs were more than enough.

O'Regan was dominant from the start, opening the game with a strikeout and never looking back. Through six innings, he allowed just three singles and a walk, punching out five Oaks batters in the process.

"It felt like everything [was working well]," O'Regan said in a postgame interview. "Whatever it was, in any situation, if I could go to it and get outs with it, it was there the whole day."

Salazar was just as strong in relief, finishing the game with three scoreless frames of his own. After allowing back-to-back singles with one out in the seventh, Salazar didn't allow another baserunner for the rest of the night, picking up four strikeouts along the way.

Thursday marked the third quality start of the season for O'Regan, who remains the top option in the Saints' resurgent rotation. Across six starts, he has recorded a sparkling 2.97 ERA with 30 strikeouts, both of which lead Arroyo Seco and rank among the best in the CCL for starting pitchers.

While O'Regan has been stellar all summer long, the rest of the rotation has stepped up to match his output as of late. In the Saints' past six games, every starter has gone at least five innings, combining for a 3.09 ERA during that stretch.

"We've got a system going on where we get rewarded for how we play, or we get punished for how we play," O'Regan said. "It's working out, clearly, as of right now."

Arroyo Seco will need its pitching to stay hot if it wants to have a shot at making the CCL playoffs. With just eight games left in the regular season, the Saints sit 3.5 games behind the Academy Barons (15-12) for the final wild card spot in the CCL South, making nearly every game a must-win from here on out.

The Saints' next chance to move closer in the standings will come Friday night, when they host the Philippines Baseball Group (0-19) at Jackie Robinson Memorial Field. First pitch is scheduled for 5:35 p.m.

Contributors:

• Saints reporter: Bennett Christofferson (USC)
• Saints photographer: Aaliyah Alamillo (University of La Verne)