The Santa Barbara Foresters’ roster is starting to fill out with even more late-arriving standouts, and the team is starting to look more and more like the defending national champs every single day.
AJ Griffin made his first start of the summer on Sunday and pitched a one-hitter through five innings, striking out six in the Foresters’ 6-1 win over the visiting California Wahoo.
Griffin, the single-season and career record holder in saves at the University of San Diego, is trying to hone his skills as a starter this summer. Coach Bill Pintard called him one of the best college pitchers on the West coast.BOX SCORE
“It was a good time. I haven’t been out on the mound pitching against people for about three and a half weeks, so it was good to get back out here and compete,” said Griffin, a 6-5 right-hander.
The Foresters (7-2) use the motto “two-out hits win championships,” and they displayed it prominently with three runs on four hits with two outs in the bottom of the first inning. James Meador, Griffin’s teammate at USD and the West Coast Conference Player of the Year, got on with a bunt single before stealing second. Ryan Goetz and Mark Castellito followed with back-to-back singles and Eric Stephens smacked a double before the frame ended.
Meador scored a pair of runs on the day, while Goetz and Castellito each had two hits.
“Meador really leads the way for the other guys because he’s a professional-type player,” said Pintard. “His approach to everything is very professional, and we have a bunch of young guys that can learn from him.”
The Wahoo, a team which plays numerous high school players from the Central Coast as well as some Division I collegiate players, were a fill-in on the schedule after the Monterey Bay Sox – a California Collegiate League rival of Santa Barbara’s – folded in the offseason.
Next up for the Foresters will be Fontanetti’s, a longtime Northern California power, at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
“They’re big time up there in Northern California, and they probably have a bunch of ex-pros,” said Pintard.
All games are broadcast on AM 1490 and www.sbforesters.org.
