Texas State third baseman Kyle Kubitza recorded a base for each year he’s been alive on Thursday, with one extra to grow on.
Kubitza reached base all six times he came up, scored five times, singled twice, hit his first-ever wood-bat homer and recorded 21 total bases on his 20th birthday as the first-place Santa Barbara Foresters crushed visiting Team Vegas 14-3 in a California Collegiate League matchup at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. The game lasted over three hours.
“My girlfriend’s mom actually sent me a text saying that I better hit a home run, so that’s all I needed,” said Kubitza, who sent a two-run bomb over the right field fence in the second inning.
The Foresters (26-7, 16-5), ranked No. 2 in the nation among Summer Ball teams by Perfect Game USA, were called “The Evil Empire” of the CCL by Angels manager Mike Scioscia during Wednesday’s FSN West broadcast of the league’s All-Star Game at the Urban Academy in Compton. The seven-time defending champs are certainly playing like it, having won eight straight and 10 of their last 11.
Santa Barbara jumped out to a 9-0 lead after four innings and never looked back. Six-foot-9 inch UCSB basketball player Sam Phippen came in to pitch the sixth and struck out the side. He joined the Gaucho baseball team just this year having not played since high school, and pitched seven so-so innings. The big guy, who was drafted by the Chicago White Sox last month, looked sharp from Kubitza’s perspective at third base.
“It looked like he was throwing downhill, and that’s really hard to pick up. When you’re throwing from over seven feet when you stride and put your hand up, it’s like dropping it from an elevator shaft,” said Kubitza.
Jeff McVaney, Walker Moore and Beau Maggi each added a pair of RBIs in the blowout, while shortstop Jeff McNeil had a pair of hits coming off the bench. San Diego State infielder Tyler Marmion made his debut for the Foresters and had an RBI in the contest.
Team Vegas is now 10-15 overall and 8-13 in the CCL. Santa Barbara hosts the Academy Barons on Friday at 5 p.m. All games are broadcast on AM 1490 and www.sbforesters.org.
Nice game, little brother!!! Wish we had been there to celebrate with you!
So awesome – nice way to celebrate turning 20!