By Will Bashur
Fathers and grandfathers left Pershing Park with ear-to-ear smiles after the Foresters topped the Blues in a Father’s Day matinee matchup, 3-1. The Foresters not only swept the two-game home series against the Blues, they extended their season-opening win streak to nine games.
Although their offense didn’t produce its typical astronomical numbers, the Foresters were still able to secure the victory behind stalwart pitching and great situational hitting. Starter Brett Standlee pitched five strong innings of one-run ball, striking out three against just one walk. From there, the ‘Sters stellar bullpen stymied the Blues’ offense, throwing four scoreless innings. Chase Wallace, the flame-throwing Tennessee Volunteer, pitched yet another lights-out ninth to earn the save.
The ‘Sters offense struck early, placing the Blues in an immediate hole. Luke Ritter drove in Ryan Cash on a well-placed groundout to start off the scoring in the bottom of the first, a play capped by a great slide by Cash to elude a tag at home. On-base machine Logan Allen then drove in the second Foresters run on a bases-loaded walk in the second, and later hit an RBI sacrifice fly in the seventh to extend the Foresters lead to 3-1.
Following a nice Father’s Day dinner tonight, Coach Bill Pintard and his ‘Sters will take the Hugs For Cubs kids and their families down to Anaheim on Monday for an exciting matchup between the Angels and Diamondbacks. After enjoying Monday’s day off with the Hugs For Cubs, the ‘Sters will hit the road once again to take on the Conejo Oaks in a CCL showdown on Tuesday. Tune into 1290 AM for complete radio coverage starting at 5 p.m.
