A lot of nails were bitten at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium on Friday night.
Walker Moore’s fourth single of the ball game came in walk-off fashion with two outs in the bottom of the ninth as the Santa Barbara Foresters won their 10th straight game, 6-5, over the visiting Urban Academy Barons.
“It was getting dark, so we needed to get out of here and end it right there. I was just able to hit the fastball today and get in good hitter’s counts,” said Moore, a utility player for Cal State Fullerton, who was mobbed by teammates after the game ended.
Patric Tolentino dives back into second base (photos by Eric Isaacs/EMI Photography).
The Barons got three runs in the top of the third before the Foresters scored five unanswered. An RBI single by UCSB’s Derek Eligio cut the lead to 5-4 in the top of the eighth as Cody Martin came on in relief. With the bases loaded and two outs, Martin engaged in an epic 12-pitch battle with Barons second baseman Sean Williams.
Williams, also a Gaucho, fouled off six straight pitches after the count went full before whiffing at a fastball on the outside corner from Martin.
“That was one of the most intense at bats I’ve ever had against someone. I just wanted to throw strikes and let him get himself out. I threw a 3-2 slider and a 3-2 curveball and he fouled both of them off, so I stuck with the fastball and tried to see what he could do,” said Martin, who now has 23 strikeouts and five walks through 15 innings pitched, including eight saves.
A great sign for the Foresters was “Big Game” James Wharton’s performance. The slugging first baseman has been caught in a mighty slump for weeks, but took the first pitch he saw in the second inning deep over the right field fence for a two-run homer that made it 3-2. He added an RBI double in the fourth.
“I got a haircut, but not much else has changed. I picked up a new bat, so maybe that’s it,” said the always-reserved Wharton, who admitted that he is superstitious and puts his left sock on first every day.
UCSB outfielder Mark Haddow got the Barons on the board early with a first-inning two-runner homer to left field off of Hoby Milner, and Williams added an RBI before the inning ended. Wharton’s home run cut the lead to one, and Jeremy Rathjen singled in Kyle Kubitza in the third to even the score. Santa Barbara added two more in the bottom of the fourth before the Barons climbed back in.
Urban Academy tied the game on another RBI single by Eligio in the ninth — his second in as many innings — but Martin was able to get out of the inning with the bases loaded once more.
Santa Barbara, ranked second in the nation by Perfect Game USA, sits atop the California Collegiate League at 27-7, 17-5. The Barons remain in third place at 18-13, 14-11. The teams play again at 5 p.m. Saturday. All games are broadcast on AM 1490 and sbforesters.org.
