SUMMERLIN, NV (May 8, 2026) - One led on offense, the other on the mound. They both went above and beyond and helped guide the St. Paul Saints to their third victory in four tries against the Las Vegas Aviators. Orlando Arcia tied a career high with five RBI and Zebby Matthews tied a franchise record with 8.0 innings pitched as the Saints went on to win 7-4 on Friday night at Las Vegas Ballpark.
It didn’t take long for the Saints to get on the board. With one out in the first back-to-back walks to Gabby Gonzalez and Kyler Fedko put runners at first and second. Arcia extended his hit streak to 12 games with an RBI single to right putting the Saints up 1-0.
For the sixth time in the series the Saints put up at least four runs in an inning when they did it in the third. Tanner Schobel led off with a double to right, took third on a single by Kaelen Culpepper, and scored on a Gonzalez sacrifice fly making it 2-0. Fedko smoked an RBI triple to center increasing the lead to 3-0. Orlando Arcia then made it 5-0 with a two-run blast to right, his first of the night and seventh of the season.
With a bullpen day for the Saints on Saturday, the Saints needed a lengthy start from Matthews and he gave it to them and then some. He danced around base runners in every inning but one as the Aviators plan of attack was to swing early with the leadoff man reaching in five of his eight innings.
Henry Bolte got the Aviators on the board with a solo homer to right-center in the third inning, his first of the night and ninth of the season, making it 5-1. Bolte was the thorn in the side for Matthews and the Saints on Friday night. He went 5-5 with two doubles, a triple, and two home runs, with two RBI, and three runs scored.
For the third time in four innings the leadoff man reached for the Aviators when Cade Marlowe led off with a triple to right-center in the fourth. He came around to score on a groundout by Bryan Lavastida cutting the Saints lead to 5-2.
Arcia continued his red-hot night by leading off the fifth with a solo homer to left, his second of the game and eighth of the season, putting the Saints up 6-2. It was the 19th home run to lead off an inning for the Saints, the most in baseball.
Bolte tormented Matthews one more time with a solo homer to right in the seventh, his second of the night and 10th of the season, getting the Aviators to within 6-3.
Arcia capped off his incredible night in the eighth. With two outs Fedko reached on an infield single to third, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a single to left by Arcia increasing the lead to 7-3. Arcia finished the night 4-5 with two home runs, a career-tying high five RBI, and two runs scored. The only other time Arcia had five RBI in a game was June 7, 2011 when he was with the Dominican Summer League Brewers.
The first two hitters reached in the eighth off Matthews on a single and a walk, but he got the next three hitters, the final two on strikeouts. Matthews final five fastballs were 96.6, 97.0, 96.4, 97.0, 96.8 mph. His fastball averaged 96.1 mph and topped out at 97.1 mph. Matthews went 8.0 innings allowing three runs, scattering 10 hits, while walking two and striking out five. He threw 95 pitches, 66 for strikes. The only other pitcher in franchise history to throw 8.0 innings in a game was Andrew Albers on August 15, 2021 @ Indianapolis. The only other pitchers to record an out in the eighth were Louie Varland (7.1 IP) on August 11, 2023 vs. Louisville and Mario Sanchez (7.2 IP) on June 2, 2022 @ Iowa.
Bolte capped his night in the ninth off reliever Drew Smith when he tripled to right with two outs and scored on a single to right-center by Tommy White to make it 7-4. Smith would get Joey Menses to pop out to Arcia to end the game.
The same two teams meet in game five of a six-game series on Saturday night at 9:05 p.m. (CT) at Las Vegas Ballpark. The Saints send RHP Trent Baker (2-2, 9.42) to the mound against Aviators RHP Kade Morris (3-1, 3.76). The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.