Michael Ratterree arrived in cool Santa Barbara and brought a hot bat with him.
The Rice University star went 4-for-5, with three singles and a massive home run, to power the Santa Barbara Foresters to their ninth straight win, a 12-0 nonleague blowout over the California Wahoos on Wednesday at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
Ratterree’s impressive debut came on the heels of one by Jeff McVaney a day earlier. In his first game, McVaney went three for four with two home runs against the Wahoos, a scout team for the Cleveland Indians that is primarily composed of talented area prep players and 2011 high school graduates.
One of those recent grads was Santa Barbara’s Danny Zandona. He started well, but the Foresters got to him in the third inning, rapping out three triples and scoring five runs.
“I couldn’t believe it, I don’t recall ever seeing three triples in one inning before,” said Derek Legg, who along with Brett Vertigan and McVaney had the triples.
Vertigan was a tough out for the Wahoos as he went 4-for-5, coming a home run short of hitting for the cycle.
“I swung for the home run there in the eighth, but once I got behind in the count, I just shortened up and went for the hit.” said Vertigan, who had two singles, a double, and a triple. He also stole a base and scored three runs.
Ratterree, who batted .327 for a 42-21 Rice team this past season and was a freshman All-American last year, said he arrived late to Santa Barbara because he had to deal with his car being vandalized outside his apartment in Houston.
Chase Yost, a former Santa Ynez High and Santa Barbara City College star Chase Yost, added to the big offensive day with hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning. It was his second of the year. Yost also made two dazzling plays out in right field.
The Foresters played solid defense, committing no errors to back up a dominating performance by the pitching staff that allowed only two hits.
In his first start of the summer, Brad Kottman threw a strong four innings. He had seven strikeouts, allowed one hit, and did not give up a single walk. The bullpen took over in the fifth and continued its dominance. Cody Evans, Jashon Hursh, McVaney, Richard Stock, and Ryan Hawthorne combined to strike out six Wahoos, allowing two walks, and only one hit. Evans was credited with the win.
“This team is coming together really quick,” manager Bill Pintard said. “Everyone is pulling for each other, the chemistry is really good, they are doing everything I’ve asked of them and they are totally responding to it. We just keep rollin.”
The Foresters travel to Thousand Oaks Thursday to face California Collegiate League opponent the Conejo Oaks. The game can be heard on AM 990.
I can’t remember a Foresters team that was so full of themselves. Is that the new look?