By Jim Buckley
Thirteen was a lucky number for the Foresters on Tuesday night in San Luis Obispo, as they put up 13 hits and struck out 13 Blues on the way a 10-2 victory.
The top of the Foresters order did the most damage, and they started in the first inning. Four of the first five Foresters hitters reached base and they all scored. Ryan Cash led off with a walk and scored on Austin Todd’s double. After an out Ryan Reynolds doubled in Todd and scored himself when Evan Lee tripled. Cash and Todd each would end up scoring three runs apiece on the night. Lee scored on David Clawson’s single.
“We came out right in the first inning and put it on ‘em,” said manager Bill Pintard “All those first hits were hard-hit balls. We put a lot of pressure on the outfield by running. Those two leadoff hitters were great, each scored thre runs and 10 total bases. You can’t draw it up better than that. They played outstanding.”
The four-spot in the first gave starting pitcher Ty Wiest a nice pad. He didn’t need much of one, throwing six shutout innings while striking out 7. Evan Kravetz gave up a couple of runs in relief, but John McMillon came on and struck out four in two innings to close things out.
“Ty Wiest pitched his best game as as Forester,” added Pintard. “We gave him a four-run lead and he did exactly what he needed to do, really hitting his spots. He threw strikes and went right at ‘em.”
The Foresters closed the game as well as they finished it, scoring twice in each of the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings. Cash and Todd both got on to start the seventh and, deja vu, both scored. In the eighth, Josh Jung drove in Todd. Later in the inning, with the bases loaded, Walker Grisanti drew a walk to add a run. He would, amazingly, repeat that feat in the ninth, the latter time bringing in Jung.
In all, it was a solid offensive performance for the Foresters, racking up their second-largest hit total of the season while snapping a two-game mini-skid. These same two teams go at it on Wednesday, again at San Luis. You can hear all the action on AM 1290 starting at 5:50.
