After their offense struggled to string hits together early in the season, the Santa Barbara Foresters erupted for nine runs on 10 hits in the opening inning of Saturday night’s game against the Neptune Beach Pearl to sweep the short two-game set and extend the season opening win-streak to seven.
A grand total of 13 men came to the plate in the first inning for the Santa Barbara Foresters, giving the team more than enough runs in Saturday night’s 10-1 victory, sponsored by The Kelt Group. The run support dwarfed any the Foresters had given a starting pitcher this year, allowing pitcher Drew Van Orden the comfort of a large cushion in his second start of the season.
The offensive explosion of ten hits included two each in the inning for Steven Reveles, Keaton Jones and Austin Darby, who added three RBIs in the inning. Pearl starter Jake Andrews left after the first inning in which he threw 47 pitches on his way to giving up the nine earned runs.
Van Orden, on the other hand, cruised against a weak hitting Pearl offense. Van Orden threw six scoreless innings while striking out seven. Only six Pearl reached base against Van Orden, who would earn the win, his second of the season.
Little action followed the first inning’s excitement, as the teams combined for only five hits threw the rest of the game. The Foresters would add one run in the fifth, on an RBI groundout by Ryan O’Hearn to score Reveles.
Patrick Weigel entered in the ninth and continued his dominance over the competition early in the season, striking out one in the perfect inning. Missouri’s Jace James made his Forester debut, striking out four as he worked the seventh and eighth innings.
Reveles finished 2-for-5 with three runs scored, Jones finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Darby finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs as the top of the Forester lineup lead the way offensively.
