Pitcher Matt Hutchinson was a fireman for the Santa Barbara Foresters in their 4-3 win over the visiting San Luis Obispo Rattlers on Saturday afternoon.
“Hutch is a jam guy and a fire-stopper… We were in a little bit of trouble and so we called on the fireman and he came in to put out the fire,” said manager Bill Pintard.
The fire began as Kevin Dickey came in as the closer with Santa Barbara up 4-1 in the top of the ninth. The UC Riverside pitcher struck out the first batter he faced but then gave up two walks, a double and a single in succession as Hutchinson heard the alarm and came in with the tying run at third base and just one out.
He first extinguished Bobby Buckner with a strikeout, then got Mike Miller to ground out to Ryan Goetz at third base to shut the door on SLO.
“I just have so much confidence in my defense behind me that it takes a lot of pressure off,” said Hutchinson, who played with the sure-gloved Goetz all the way back in Little League.
Hutchinson also used a little visualization to get the last two outs, saying he imagined he was doing it for Hugs for Cubs kids Wyatt Taylor and Trent Gerke. Hutchinson spent a couple of hours in the hospital with Gerke before Friday’s game, and he didn’t win when it came to competing with the youngster.
“We played the board game ‘Uncle Wiggily’ and I thought I had him, but he beat me real bad,” recalled “Hutch” with a smile.
The ending wasn’t the only good part of the game on the mound for Santa Barbara (14-5, 6-2 CCL), as local boy Chris Joyce — a Dos Pueblos grad and current UCSB Gaucho — had his best start of the summer. The lefty gave up just three hits and no runs in six lights-out innings of work, and Pintard was particularly impressed when Joyce set down the Rattlers (15-7, 8-6) in order right after Santa Barbara scored three in the bottom of the fourth.
“It’s so big when you get a shutdown inning after your club scores, and he did that. He got the W and did a real nice job,” said Pintard.
Offensively, catcher Ryan Hege drove in three runs while Drew Maggi knocked in the other. Maggi, a shortstop from Arizona State who came into town earlier in the day, was happy to get in the game immediately.
“I didn’t know they were gonna throw me right into the lineup but I was hoping,” said Maggi, whose younger brother Beau has been with the team all season.
The elder Maggi also said that the difference in crowd noise between playing in the College World Series in Omaha, as he did last week, and playing at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium was strange at first (even though it was a fairly packed house on Saturday).
“I was in the field in the first inning and it seemed real quiet, but baseball’s baseball so once I got into it I was fine.”
The Foresters will throw ace pitcher A.J. Griffin in tomorrow’s series finale, with the game set for 1 p.m. All games are broadcast on AM 1490 KIST and www.sbforesters.org.
