Arroyo Seco Saints have World Series hopes denied
COMPTON — A fourth straight appearance in the Palomino World Series beckoned for the members of the Arroyo Seco Saints 19-and-under summer baseball team.
With a victory against the South Bay Legacy in a semifinal game of the West Zone Tournament on Monday, Arroyo Seco would earn a return trip to the tournament. Things looked good early for Arroyo Seco after taking a big lead before they encountered several rough stretches and ultimately saw their season come to a close.
Arroyo Seco yielded six unanswered runs en route to a 6-3 elimination defeat at Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy.
“We’ve played a lot of games over the past couple of months and you learn there are going to be a lot of ebbs and flows throughout,” said Arroyo Seco Coach Aaron Milam, whose team featured several players from St. Francis High and Glendale Community College. “In this game, there were a couple of momentum swings.
“We got the early [3-0] lead and our starting pitcher got behind in some of the counts and we needed to minimize the damage.
“They got four runs in the third inning and then another two runs in the sixth. We were resilient with the way we played over a 40-game stretch and we finished 25-15 with nine of the losses by one run.”
Arroyo Seco took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a single by Grant Woodward that scored Gabe Chavez. The Saints scored twice in the second, courtesy of run-scoring singles by Frank Garriola and Chavez.
South Bay, which won two of three matchups against Arroyo Seco in the tournament and later defeated the Santa Clara Red Sox, 10-5, on Monday in the title contest, then scored four runs against Arroyo Seco pitcher Miles Glazier in the third.
A ground out to first by Aaron Pleschner gave the Legacy a 4-3 lead. South Bay then closed out the scoring with two runs in the sixth.
Arroyo Seco tried to mount a rally with two outs and nobody on in the seventh. Spencer Rouse walked and took second on a single by Chavez, who finished with three hits. Cristian Montes of Glendale college singled to load the bases. However, South Bay starting pitcher Kyle Lucke got Woodward on a chopper to second to end the contest.
“At least we gave ourselves a shot in the seventh,” said Milam, a former St. Francis coach. “We tried, but just came up short.
“It’s been a long season, but a great one. We have a lot of excellent players who will be successful in college. It’s just like a book regarding the season. Each has a different ending.”
Chavez, a second baseman, said the Saints picked up some valuable experience.
“A lot of great things happened over the last nine weeks,” said Chavez, who is headed to the University of Arizona. “We always came to play and battle it out. It took a lot of hard work.”
The Saints finished with nine hits, seven coming in the first two innings. Glazier, a left-hander, struck out six and surrendered seven hits in a complete-game effort.
Lucke, a right-hander, collected five strikeouts.
South Bay and Santa Clara will take part in the World Series, which will be held Thursday through Sunday at the same venue.
