The Foresters made the most of their final California
Collegiate League home game with a 15-2 trouncing of MLB Academy on Sunday
Afternoon at Pershing Park.
Santa Barbara scored 15 runs on 18 hits to bounce back from
a rough outing collectively at the plate on Saturday, much to the delight of
one of the largest home crowds of the summer.
“Nine of our first ten hits were with two outs,” said
Foresters head coach Bill Pintard. “We have a saying, ‘two out hits win
championships,’ and man we were really locked in today.”
The offense came early and often for Santa Barbara. Zach Presno tripled down the right-field line
with two outs in the bottom of the first inning driving in Blake Hall from
third base. Two batters later, Spencer
Jones added another run on a single that brought home Presno, increasing the
Foresters’ lead to 2-0.
Jones has been red hot this week and increased his batting average
to .379 for the summer.
Santa Barbara broke the game open with four runs each in the
second and third innings. Christian
Franklin lined a single to center field with two outs in the bottom of the
second inning that brought home two runs and Presno followed with a two-run
homer that put the Foresters ahead 6-0.
In the bottom of the third inning, Blake Hall lined a shot
off the left field fence with the bases loaded that scored three runs. Franklin
followed with a single up the middle that scored Hall and increased the Santa
Barbara lead to 10-0.
“The name of the game today was extra base hits, we had two
home runs, we were just really locked in at the plate,” Pintard said. “The last
ten games before last night we were averaging nine runs a game and like 13
hits, so we hit, but for us to have a hiccup after that kind of a streak is
somewhat expected although we don’t like it.”
The run support was a welcomed sight for Santa Barbara
starting pitcher Brooks Fuller, who pitched his way out of jams in the second
and third innings. Despite surrendering four walks Fuller held the Barons
scoreless on just two hits in his five innings of work.
The Foresters (27-9 overall, 25-8 CCL) have one more CCL
game at Arroyo Seco on Tuesday, in addition to completing a suspended game with
Arroyo Seco beforehand. The final game of the regular season will be on
Wednesday against the Santa Barbara Grizzlies.