By Cole Walker
On a hot and contentious afternoon in San Luis Obispo, the Foresters’ consistent combination of early hitting coupled with solid pitching outlasted the Blues as the ‘Sters left Sinsheimer Stadium Sunday with a 5-4 victory.
The ‘Sters offense got going early thanks to a pair of walks by both Kaden Peterson, and Nolan Souza,
which was complimented well by a Jonah Sebring single to left. This setup allowed recent UCSB transfer
Jack Holman to come through with a big single that scored an eager Peterson from third. Local product
Daniel Patterson came up next and helped to continue the rally by inducing an RBI walk. The ‘Sters
weren’t done yet though, as right fielder Jackson Freeman put a perfectly placed sacrifice fly into center
which enabled a speedy Souza to score from third.
The Blues pitching staff continued to struggle with control throughout the game as they walked in
another run in the 7th to give the ‘Sters a 4-1 lead headed into the bottom half of the inning.
However, the Blues added a run in the 6th following an infield fly mishap, and proceeded to crawl their
way back into the game in the bottom half of the 7th adding 3 runs of their own off several hits and one
throwing error.
After a dominating first half, the seemingly stunned ‘Sters found themselves in a tied ball game going
into the 8th.
Following two innings of scoreless baseball, courtesy of the clutch Will Rogers, who finished the game
throwing 3.1 innings and having 3 strikeouts, the Foresters headed to their first extra inning game of the
year tied 4-4. With the swift Drew Markle starting on second, back-to-back wild pitches helped to
advance Markle to home and bring in the go ahead run, as well as fire up the Foresters faithful that
made the trip North.
Rogers continued to shut down San Luis Obispo in the bottom of the 10th, finishing off the game, and
making all of the home-fans in attendance sing the blues.
The Foresters hope to continue their hot streak against the non-CCL affiliated California Halos Tuesday
evening at Eddie Mathews Field. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30.
