WICHITA — The first fly ball from the Seattle Studs was lost in the lights and fell for a double. It didn’t get much better from there.
The Santa Barbara Foresters fell to the Studs 11-6 on Thursday, settling for third place in the National Baseball Congress World Series.
After giving up four runs in the top of the first, Santa Barbara kept battling back but never cut the lead to less than two.
Patric Tolentino tags a Seattle runner trying to steal home in the first inning (SB Foresters courtesy photo).
“These guys left everything on the field like they’ve done all summer. They’re winners, and I’d rather lose with winners than win with losers,” said manager Bill Pintard.
Finishing with a 45-11 record, this year’s team won its eighth consecutive California Collegiate League championship and was honored before Thursday’s game with the Satchel Paige Award for the most outstanding pitching staff in the tournament. Chris Joyce, a fourth-year Forester who was named the CCL’s Most Valuable Pitcher, lasted just one inning before giving way to Tom Lemke.
Seattle’s potent lineup racked up 13 hits in the game.
“It just wasn’t my night tonight, and as a team we just struggled from the get-go. These things happen in baseball. Regardless, we had a special season and it was the most meaningful summer of my life,” said Joyce, who finished 7-1 on the year.
Santa Barbara fell behind 5-0, but hope was restored when Jeff McVaney hit a three-run jack — his second in as many days — to make it 5-3 in the bottom of the third. But the Studs responded, racking up four hits and three more runs in the fifth to make it 8-3.
“You’ve gotta give credit to Seattle. It was kind of their turn this year, and they’re a great club coached by a class guy,” said Pintard, referring to Studs manager Barry Aden.
Jeremy Rathjen blasted a solo homer over the fence in left field in the fifth to cut the lead by one, and James Wharton tripled in Walker Moore with no outs in the eighth. A throwing error allowed Wharton to come all the way home, and all of a sudden the Foresters were within striking range at 8-6.
In the top of the ninth, however, Seattle scored three runs on a pair of wild pitches, a hit, an error and three walks.
Hoby Milner, named the tournament’s top Major League Pitching Prospect, took over for Lemke and gave up just one hit in two and two-thirds innings pitched.
It was a roller-coaster of a tournament for the Foresters, who lost their third game to the Liberal (KS) Bee Jays before a wild comeback victory over the Derby (KS) Twins which included two runs in the ninth and two in the 10th in 100-degree heat. Two Forester wins later, the Studs stood strong in the semifinals and denied Santa Barbara another crack at the Bee Jays, who will play Seattle in Friday’s final.
