Streak sustained.
The Santa Barbara Foresters mounted a ninth-inning rally in San Luis Obispo on Friday, scoring three runs in the top half of the inning before Ryan Hawthorne struck out the side for the save in a 4-2 win over the San Luis Obispo Rattlers.
Santa Barbara (32-7, 21-5 CCL) has now won 15 in a row and 22 out of its last 24.
“That was pretty sweet. We were waiting for that comeback the whole game. We haven’t been in many close games recently, so it was really nice to pull this out,” said Hawthorne, who has struck out the side in his last three innings of relief.
James Wharton led off the ninth with a double and pinch-hitter Nick Melino followed with a walk. Tyler Marmion laid down a bunt that just barely stayed fair as it trickled down the third base line to load the bases with nobody out.
Michael Ratterree then singled to drive in two runs and make it 3-2. Jeremy Rathjen added the final run on a sacrifice fly to left field that drove in Marmion.
The Foresters took a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice by Wharton that drove in Jeff McVaney in the top of the fourth. San Luis Obispo answered right back on a double by Joe Etcheverry in the bottom half of the inning to knot things up at 1-1. David Schultz singled home Zach Steele to put the Rattlers ahead 2-1, but the Foresters stormed back in the ninth.
Santa Barbara is back home at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium on Friday at 5 p.m. against the San Luis Obispo Blues.
