By Jim Buckley; photos by Ed Bailey
It’s a Foresters mantra almost as old as Pinner: “Two-out hits win championships.” On Friday, the Foresters followed that plan to win Game 1 of the NBC World Series as they begin their quest for another title. Jack Holman came through with the key hit, singling in Kaden Peterson with two outs in the sixth to break up a scoreless tie. Meanwhile, Foresters pitching shut down the GPS Legends for a 2-0 win.
Mason Koch (pictured) started for the Foresters and scattered four hits while striking out six and allowing no runs in five innings. Hudson Hamilton allowed only two baserunners in his three innings. New Forester Jake Dixon pitched the ninth for the save. Meanwhile, Foresters hitters were struggling against GPS’s Cade Weibel. But Petersen worked a walk and then we got lucky. As he took off for second, Weibel picked him off, but the throw from the first baseman hit Petersen in the elbow.
Holman then stroked a two-out single into right field (below), adding to his team RBI lead and giving the Foresters all the runs they would need. In the seventh, T.J. Pompey legged out a double and came in on Andrew Semo’s single to add some insurance.
The Foresters are back at it Saturday, facing the Seattle Blackfins in a game scheduled to start (on the NBC World Series YouTube Channel) at 7 pm Santa Barbara time.
