By Jim Buckley (photo by Lexi Brintle)
First, the good news. The ’Ster Bus made it to Great Park for this game against the OC Riptide. Back on June 17, the ol’ wheels had not worked well enough to make the trip and that game was postponed to Monday night. Second, the great news: the trip was worth it, as the Foresters came back home with a 5-1 win. Great pitching throughout and some timely hitting meant a happy bus ride back to SB.
The Foresters struck first in the second inning when Caden Miller’s single found empty green in left field and Cole Chamberlain came in to score. But with two on and no out, Santa Barbara could not add another run.
The Riptide tied the score in the bottom of the inning, but the Foresters quickly responded in the third. Brenton Clark smashed a long triple to right field and Terrence Kiel, the hero of Sunday’s big win, came through again. His single put the ’Sters back on top 2-1.
Starter Nic Abraham followed Zack James’s Sunday start with a pretty good one of his own. The Tennessee righty scattered seven hits and struck out five, while allowing only the single run.
In the fifth, Clark got his second knock and then promptly stole second. After a walk to Kiel, Easton Moomau smacked a double that scored Clark. Brady Dallimore then ripped a single through the right side on a two-strike pitch to bring in Kiel. The Foresters ended up leaving them loaded (they would do so again in the seventh), but went to the bottom of the sixth up 4-1.
The Riptide threatened in the seventh, loading the bases with the first three walks of the game allowed by ’Sters pitching. But Tag Andrews closed the door by getting former ’Sters Jonny Rodriguez to ground out. Andrews, Josh Hyneman, Sam Stevens, and Easton Tumis put up four scoreless innings in relief of Abraham.
Santa Barbara added one more in the eighth. Clark’s one-out double was his fourth hit of the night and after moving to third, he scored his third run of the game on a wild pitch.
The 5-1 win moved the ’Sters farther ahead of the Conejo Oaks in the CCL South Division, and those two teams meet on Tuesday at 4:30 in Thousand Oaks. Listen to all the action on the Foresters YouTube channel.
