By Jim Buckley with Blythe Hastings
The Conejo Oaks walked right into a 3-1 win Tuesday night in Thousand Oaks, thanks to Foresters pitching offering nine free passes. Foresters bats could not respond to an early three-run deficit, and Santa Barbara fell to 2-3 on the short season.
Foresters starter Kyle Robinson walked three batters in the second inning, one of whom scored and the other of whom set up the second run. Reliever Robert Cranz walked the first batter he saw in the second; that Oaks batter came around to score as well.
The Foresters got one of those runs back in the top of the third. Ty Hodge singled and then went to second on a Josh Stinson single. A Rylan Charles fly ball allowed Hodge to advance to third, setting up a classic Sters play. As Stinson took off from first and the throw sailed to second, Hodge sped home to the cry of “STERS!” from the Santa Barbara dugout.
But that was about it for excitement on a quiet night for offense. The Foresters got only one other hit all night. The lone bright spot was reliever Jacob Martinez’s two perfect innings with four strikeouts, among the 11 Ks the Foresters pitcher recorded. The “three true outcomes” school of baseball was two-thirds on display at Sparky Anderson Field.
The Foresters will regroup when they head to Compton on Wednesday for a road game against the MLB Academy Barons. Listen to all the action on AM 1290 KZSB and KZSB 98.9 or stream online at KZSB.com.
