Despite leaving eight runners aboard and committing two errors, the Santa Barbara Foresters pulled out a 6-3 victory to sweep a two-game series against the Menlo Park Legends at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium on Wednesday.
“We lacked a real killer instinct early in the game. We had to grind this game out and we did grind it out,” said Forester manager Bill Pintard.
With two outs in the top of the first, Menlo’s Ben Clowe drove a ball to centerfield, just under the glove of diving centerfielder Jeremy Rathjen. Clowe then came around to score after catcher Jared Womack airmailed a dropped third strike to first, over the head of first baseman James Wharton.
The Foresters (12-5) retaliated by scoring two in the bottom of the first off an RBI single from Rathjen and a bases-loaded walk from Ryan Hege. Santa Barbara knocked in another two runs during the fourth and fifth innings to take a 4-1 lead.
“[The overthrow] took a game where we had a real comfortable lead and made it a little uncomfortable,” Pintard said.In the top of the sixth, ex-Forester Steve Cook got caught in a rundown between third and home. An overthrow to the plate from third helped the Cook come in for another Legends run.
Although the Foresters rallied for eight hits, six strikeouts prevented Santa Barbara from adding a few more hash marks to its final tally.
“We left a lot of guys on base and we had too many strikeouts with runners in scoring position,” Pintard said.
The Foresters scored their final two runs of the game in the seventh off a Menlo Park error and RBI by designated hitter Hege, his second of the game.
“It’s hard baseball,” Hege said of playing with the Foresters. “[The coaches] let you swing it and you can let the ball fly a little. You have free reign on the base path to test your speed and get better.”
The starting pitcher for the Foresters was Hoby Milner from the University of Texas. Milner threw four innings giving up one earned run and four hits while striking out seven.
Matthew Reckling, Jeff McVaney and Cody Martin provided relief later in the game, securing the win for Milner.
“I thought our pitching did an excellent job today, all the way through,” Pintard said. “If you win the ballgame, that’s what’s important.”
The Foresters play next on Friday 5 p.m. against the San Luis Obispo Rattlers.
