By Jim Buckley
History awaits. The Foresters beat the Seattle Studs 5-0 in Friday’s NBC World Series semifinal. Thanks to another outstanding pitching gem from Zane Petty and three Foresters homers, Santa Barbara will play on Saturday, August 12, for its fourth consecutive championship and 11th overall. They got that chance with shutout pitching and power hitting on Friday for the team’s fifth win in Wichita and 10th in a row overall. The championship game will be at 5 pm Santa Barbara time against the Hutchinson (KS) Monarchs.
Petty put up his second shutout performance of the tournament, with seven innings of three-hit ball, striking out eight. The Studs, who came in hitting .292 in the tournament, hit only one ball deep against Petty and had a runner in scoring position only once. Sean Youngerman and Nick Proctor finished with two more scoreless innings, running the ’Sters streak of zeroes to 20 frames since game three of the tourney.
Backing up Petty was a power display, led by Jalin Flores’ two-run shot in the fifth. His bomb came after Ryan Black had driven in Rylan Galvahn, who reached base four times, with the game’s first run.
In the eighth, Eamonn Lance took advantage of an error by the Studs’ first baseman on a foul pop to then blast a homer of his own. Will Rogers served up back-to-back jack for his fifth homer of the summer for the game’s final run.
This was the tenth meeting of the Studs and Foresters at this venerable tournament; the two teams are now tied 5-5 in games, but the Foresters lead 10-3 in championships all-time (and two of those title wins came against the Studs). They have also eliminated Seattle two years in a row.
No team in the history of the 89-year-old NBC World Series has won four in a row. The Foresters already hold the record for most championships with 10. They’ll try to add another on Saturday. Don’t miss a pitch: Tune in to the NBC World Series YouTube channel and also listen to AM 1290/FM 96.9 or online. Our radio broadcast will start at 4:50 PM with the Coastal Copy Pregame Show. ‘Ster it up!
