Arroyo Seco Saints finish .500 after weekend sweep, but will miss playoffs

PASADENA—The adage “It’s now how you start, it’s how you finish” remains a popular piece of advice.

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But try telling that to the Arroyo Seco Saints, whose season ended Sunday at Jackie Robinson Memorial Field.

The Saints began the 2026 California Collegiate League season 4-15, but an 8-3 performance down the stretch suddenly gave the team an outside shot at making the playoffs entering Friday. Arroyo Seco would need to win its final three games and for the MLB Academy Barons (18-16) to drop their last three.

Coach Aaron Milam’s crew did its part – outslugging the Santa Maria Indians 13-3 Friday, the Orange County Riptide 7-6 Saturday and the Barons 9-3 Sunday.

But the Barons’ 15-0 clobbering of the San Luis Obispo Blues eliminated the Saints (18-18) ahead of their season finale – and made their two-run, ninth-inning comeback against the Riptide all for naught.

“This season has been rough,” Milam said. “A win today would be at .500, but the (MLB) Academy locked up the last spot in the playoffs yesterday. … So, you know, it’s bittersweet. But good kids. I’ve enjoyed my summer with them, and I enjoy it every summer.”

Milam completed his 23rd season with the Saints on Sunday. An engineer by trade, Milam founded the team after inheriting the Stan Musial League’s Pasadena Firebirds from his former coach, Ed Panik, and the Pasadena Babe Ruth League.

“I don’t believe next year will be my 24th,” Milam said. “No way.”

While the coach remained confident about helming the Saints come next season, and would like to reach 25 seasons, he thinks he’ll want to spend the time coaching his son’s baseball team and daughter’s softball team. Milam even turned down a coaching position at Cal State LA to spend time with his family, and already has a day job with Abbott Labs.

But Milam knows anything could happen.

“If you asked me 24 years ago if I’d still be doing this,” Milam said. “I would’ve said no.”

Right-hander Joey Parrish’s outing Sunday seemed to provide a microcosm of Arroyo Seco’s season, at least by Milam’s description.

Like the Saints, Parrish got off to a slow start on the mound. He loaded the bases on back-to-back walks and a hit by pitch before surrendering a two-run single and dishing out a third walk.

But Parrish bounced back, striking out the side and allowing just one more runner to score.

“Honestly, the sun was really the biggest thing,” Parrish said. “I was pitching and the sun was right there in my face the whole time. … Focusing on using my front half to pull down is kind of what helped me get back in the line.”

Parrish struck out five in his two innings of work across Friday and Sunday – generating swing and miss that’s not too unfamiliar for the right-hander.

The recent Phoenix College graduate benefits from an over-the-top, Fernando Rodney-esque release point and 2,300 RPM fastball that tends to fly over the top of swinging bats.

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“It’s always been like that,” said Parrish, who’s hoping to continue his playing career at Point Loma. “I just had good upper spine mobility, so I can get in that position pretty well.

Milam said he thinks the Saints’ season turnaround came, in part, because of a change in the team’s perspective.

“When they fail, they’re so upset,” Milam said. “My question to them is, ‘Why the hell are you so mad? That you failed one time? I fail every day. … If you embrace the failure and understand that failure is acceptable as long as you’re learning from it, then you’re not going to get in your own way as much. You’re actually going to get better.”

Carson Panarisi, a rising fifth-year at Cal State LA, said the transition to wood bats was a challenge – but no such struggle presented itself Friday.

“I see a huge difference, especially in weight, for sure, and contact rate,” Panarisi said. “You have way more forgiveness with a metal bat, for sure. … You have to get your hands to the ball faster and you have to get your hands inside more with a Woodbat.”

The left fielder slugged his only homer of the summer and added in a pair of doubles in his 3-for-4, four-RBI performance.

Despite the ballpark’s proximity to the Rose Bowl, just a seven-minute walk away, fans were few and far between – but that’s not to say the stands were void of passion.

Keith Franklin, who was also at a Long Beach Coast game July 2 and regularly travels around Southern California to watch baseball and keep up with the coaches, players and officials he’s gotten to know, made a last-minute decision to catch the Saints’ season finale.

“We’re getting ready to go into a really big job coming up in August, and I might be disappearing for a month or six weeks – late nights and working all weekend and stuff like that,” Franklin said. “I almost was thinking on the drive up here. I’m like, ‘Man, I have a lot of stuff to be doing. What am I doing going up here to this ball game?’ And I’m like, ‘Keith, shut your mouth and just get to the ballpark. It’s going to change, man.’ … The first pitch, just by a pop of the glove, everything’s gone.”

Franklin’s booming voice filled the ballpark, eliciting some laughter from players and fans. But come the game’s conclusion, Franklin successfully got the crowd to applaud both teams’ summer-long efforts.

Southpaw Joe O’Reagan finished as the CCL’s 2026 regular season ERA leader, posting a 3.12 mark over six games. The left-hander also struck out the fifth most in the league, racking up 36 in 40.1 innings pitched.

O’Reagan is transferring to Nevada for his senior season, but between then and now, what happens next is anybody’s best guess.

“Man, plans right now,” O’Reagan said. “I don’t even know what I’m doing tomorrow, so good luck asking me what’s going on in a month.”

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