The Foresters put together a flaming good start to their season, but not in the way you think. Their bus ride to San Diego was delayed by a terrible wildfire in the Calabasas area, which is still being attacked as we write this (and we wish all the best of luck to the residents there), but once the baseball began, the ’Sters stayed hot, winning 5-3 over the Waves.
Santa Barbara wasted no time in scoring its first run of the season. Second baseman Kyle Isbel started the game with a leadoff single, stole second, and scored on rightfielder Colby Barrick’s base hit. The ’Sters doubled their total in the fourth after Isbel again led off by getting base, this time via a hit-by-pitch. After shorstop Bret Boswell, joining the Foresters for his third season, doubled, centerfielder Connor McManigal drove in Isbel with a groundout. Newcomer and first baseman Codi Santana blasted a solo home run in the fifth.
In the eighth, returning Forester Trevor Abrams, playing left field for manager Bill Pintard, wrapped up this three-hit day with a two-RBI double, driving in Boswell and McManigal.
Meanwhile, starting pitcher Tanner Lawson blanked the Waves for three-plus, followed by Matt Hartman, who gave up two runs in the sixth. Hartman was impressive, getting seven of the eight outs he recorded via strikeout. Michael Rishwain of Westmont and Sam Sheehan closed things out for the Foresters hurlers.
The game’s late start bumped up against a local time-restriction rule, so the game was called after eight innings.
The Foresters play the Waves again Sunday at 5:15 and begin hometown and California Collegiate League play Tuesday, June 7 at Westmont College’s Russ Carr Field at 5 pm. It’s the first of a three-game series against the Healdsburg Prune Packers.
