By Jalen Kang
For the second night in a row, the ballgame needed more than nine innings to decide a victor. Tonight the Foresters were on the other end of another extra-inning battle, falling to Arroyo Seco Saints 5-4 on Wednesday Evening.
The Saints (13-10 CCL) plated two runs in the seventh to jump ahead 3-1, but the ’Sters answered in the eighth to get it right back to even.
After Jonah Sebring doubled for his third hit of the day, Jack Holman drove him in with a triple into the right-field corner. With the tying run just 90 feet away, TJ Pompey got the job done with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-3.
Jake Dixon tossed a scoreless eighth and ninth inning to keep the score right where it was, notching another solid outing under his belt as a late addition to the ’Sters bullpen.
The 10th inning began with Sebring representing the go-ahead “ghost runner” on second base. Holman led off the inning by laying down a bunt that the Saints’ pitcher couldn’t come up with, advancing Sebring to third while allowing him to reach with no outs. Last game’s hero Will Rogers stepped up to the plate in another big spot and delivered once again, driving in Sebring with an RBI single to give the ’Sters a 4-3 lead.
The ’Sters loaded the bases after Rogers’ go-ahead knock but couldn’t capitalize, grounding into an out and lining into a double play to end the inning without any plating insurance runs.
Runners left on would come back to haunt the ’Sters, as the Saints fought back in their half of the inning. They used 3 timely hits to bring 2 runs home and walk off the ’Sters, snapping their four-game winning streak.
The ’Sters return to Eddie Mathews Field to take on the Coastal Dodgers in a non-CCL contest. Come out to Santa Barbara High School to see your ’Sters back in action or tune in to our live broadcast on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/@SantaBarbaraForesters19.
