By Kyle Howie
The Foresters put together a hard-fought, team win. Pitchers suffocated the Oaks’ bats with a shutout and the ‘Sters hitters pounced on the Oaks’ defensive mistakes every chance they got. This combination resulted in a 5-0 victory to hand the Oaks their first loss.
The party got started early in the bottom of the 1st inning with an RBI single up the middle from Rocco Garza-Gongora. Daniel Patterson scored on the play after a leadoff single and stolen base, as he does so often.
Sters’ continue the scoring with a towering home run from Max Belyeu that cleared well over the left-field fence. Belyeu said that he was waiting for his pitch and he “happened to see it well, swung, and put a good swing on it”. Gianni Horvat scored the second run of the inning off a Greg Pace single to left field. At the completion of the 4th inning, the Foresters took a commanding 3-0 lead.
The bottom of the 6th inning featured a crucial error from the Oaks’ catcher, Brady Francisco. Horvat hit a hard ground ball at the shortstop, Carson Falkner, who delivered a strike to Francisco at home. Francisco was unable to secure that ball allowing Will Rogers to score from third. Garza-Gongora was right behind Rogers to tack on another run to make it a 5-0 ballgame.
Pitchers Colby Kmetko and Carson Turnquiest tallied up 8 strikeouts and got the Foresters’ first shutout of the season. Kmetko tossed a full 6 innings and faced 4 batters or less in 5 of the 6 innings. Turnquiest capped off the last 3 innings and slammed the door in the 9th with two strikeouts.
The Foresters are back in action and will go for the series win against the Conejo Oaks tomorrow, June 18th. The game will start at 1:00 p.m. at Ullman Stadium. All Forester’s games can be heard live on AM 1290 radio; or listen online or stream live via the Foresters website, www.sbforesters.org.
