A day after clinching their eighth straight California Collegiate League title, the Santa Barbara Foresters stayed focused and finished up a series sweep of the Conejo Oaks with an 8-3 win in Thousand Oaks on Thursday.
First baseman Walker Moore reached base four times, going 2-for-3 with three runs scored and a stolen base. San Marcos High senior Riley Moore, recently selected to the Area Code Team, caught for the Foresters and had an RBI single with three walks.
Santa Barbara (37-9, 26-7) took a 4-0 lead in the second inning and never looked back. The Oaks (20-26, 12-21) racked up 11 hits to the Foresters’ nine, but Conejo committed three costly errors in the ball game. Santa Barbara left the bases loaded in the third and sixth innings before Nick Melino drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the seventh.
Jesse Meaux got the start and gave up nine singles over four innings but allowed just one run. Hoby Milner was credited with the victory, pitching scoreless and hitless innings in the eighth and ninth.
The Foresters play the Santa Maria Valley Packers at Elks Field on Friday at 7 p.m. At the end of the three-game series on Sunday, the squad will pack up and take the bus to Wichita for the National Baseball Congress World Series. The roster will have to be cut down by five (33 players to 28) before then.
“It’s the toughest part of the whole summer when you have to tell someone that’s been here the whole time that they don’t get to play in Wichita,” said manager Bill Pintard.
All games are broadcast on AM 1490 and www.sbforesters.org.
