The Foresters ended their only losing streak of the season at only two games with a solid 7-2 win over the MLB Academy Barons Friday evening. A solid start by Gary Cornish—2 runs on 5 hits in 7 innings—was backed up by late-game clutch hitting, including Troy Conyers’ mammoth second homer of the summer.
Trailing 1-0 in the fourth, the ‘Sters bats came alive after Granger Studdard singled up the middle and scored on Jeremy Montalbano’s double to the center field wall. Montalbano scored shortly after on a passed ball.
After the Barons tied the game in the fifth, Santa Barbara struck back in the the seventh. Troy Conyers smashed a home run to deep centerfield that tipped off the centerfielder’s glove before passing over the wall. Catcher Dylan Paul singled and moved around the base and later scored on a two-RBI hit by Michael Smith, pushing the Sters lead to 5-2.
Granger Studdard made a run-saving leaping catch.
Santa Barbara added a pair of runs in the eighth. Lex Kaplan doubled and scored on pinch-hitter Trevor Abrams’ own two-bagger. After Paul got his second hit of the game and the Foresters loaded the bases, John Brontsema got a painful RBI when he was hit by a pitch to score the Foresters’ final run.
After Cornish went seven, Dalton Brown and Troy Cruz closed out the game with no damage.
Dalton Brown helped close out the win.
The Sters face the MLB Academy Barons again on Saturday at 5:05 PM at Ceaser Uyesaka Stadium. (Photos by Eric Isaacs)
