One of those incredibly rare occurences in baseball showed up at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium on Friday night, and it left the Santa Barbara Foresters scratching their heads.
Santa Barbara’s pitchers — Sam Stafford, Nolan Rudman and Cody Martin — combined for a no-hitter but the Foresters still fell to the Conejo Oaks 2-1.
“That’s a little brutal. Sam pitched really good, but their guy did too. He had us off-balance all day,” said utilityman Walker Moore.
Their guy was University of Hawaii lefty Blair Walters, who struck out six in a six-hit complete-game effort. The Foresters allowed the Oaks’ two runs on a tough-luck error by Rudman with two outs in the top of the eighth. Rudman put down the first two batters of the inning before an error on a ground ball to James Wharton at first base allowed Kyle Jones to reach safely. Ryon Healy and Chris Hannick both walked to load the bases, bringing up slugger David Casey.
Rudman and Casey battled to a full count before Casey hit a ground ball to Wharton at first base. As Wharton charged for it, Rudman ran to cover first and was there in time. His foot, however, slid off the base just before Wharton’s toss reached him, allowing Jones and Healy to both score. Rudman knew it right away, and was outwardly frustrated.
“I immediately thought of Billy Buckner,” said manager Bill Pintard of Wharton’s error. “And then on the next error, I think if you’re the pitcher you should always pretend you have it at least and move on. The umpire, I guess, made the right call on that one.”
Rally caps were on for the bottom of the ninth, and Nick Melino led the frame off with his third hit of the day, a single up the gut. Jared Womack drove in a run with two outs in the inning, but a fly ball to centerfield ended the game.
Stafford struck out eight batters through seven hitless innings.
“The offense needs to pick it up tomorrow. The pitching’s pretty stellar. We just have to regroup tomorrow and put some hits together,” said Moore.
The Foresters (17-7, 11-5 CCL) play against the Oaks (11-17, 8-14 CCL) at Cal Lutheran University at 5 p.m. Saturday before coming home for the series finale at Pershing Park on the Fourth of July at 4:30 p.m. All games are broadcast on AM 1490 and www.sbforesters.org.
