With four pitchers throwing heat on the mound for the Santa Barbara Foresters, the Walnut Creek Crawdads couldn’t get the timely hits, leading to a 6-2 Foresters win.
While holding Walnut Creek to three hits in his 5 innings, Foresters starter Glenn Otto struck out eight. Reliever Cody Crouse allowed the Crawdads two runs, but picked up the win. Elliott Surrey and Troy Cruz wrapped things up on the mound. Cruz sealed the deal by striking out the side in the ninth.
The Foresters scored first when An early pitcher’s dual silenced the bats on both sides during the beginning of the game. Both teams shut out the batters until the bottom of the third when second baseman John Brontsema hit a hard RBI single to score Dylan Paul, who had doubled to left field. After Walnut Creek scored a pair in the sixth, the Foresters retook the lead in the bottom of the inning. With the bases loaded and Kaleb Denny at the plate, Lex Kaplan scored on a wild pitch. As Troy Conyers advanced to third on the play, the Crawdad catcher threw the ball into left field, allowing Conyers to come across with the go-ahead run.
Back-to-back doubles from John Holland and Kaplan increased the lead to 4-2. Later, with runners on second and third, another wild pitch brought in Lex Kaplan. Tyler Neslony wrapped up the scoring by driving in Granger Studdard with a single to left center.
The Sters face the Crawdads for the final game in the series this Sunday. First pitch will be thrown at 1 PM at Ceaser Uyeska Stadium located at UCSB.
By: Amber Treybig
