The Santa Barbara Foresters broke even against the Conejo Oaks at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium on Wednesday night. Tuesday night’s game in Thousand Oaks was called due to darkness with Conejo ahead 10-7. The final three innings were played out, and the Oaks won 10-8.
In Wednesday’s scheduled game, Brett Vertigan (UCSB) and Jeff McNeil (CSU Long Beach) wreaked havoc on the base-path as the Foresters evened the score against the Oaks with a 7-2 win.
Mitch Mormann (Wichita State) started the game for the Foresters and returned to his early season form with an excellent outing. After struggling in his last few starts, Mormann struck out five batters in five innings while allowing just one run.
Jose Cardona (CSU Fullerton) pitched for the Oaks, and kept the game close through four innings, but lost control in the fifth.
Foresters right fielder Blake Brown (Missouri) led the fifth inning off with a home run to right field. Then the speed of Vertigan and McNeil took over, as Vertigan reached base on an error, and McNeil brought him home on a triple to left field.
“I absolutely love those players,” Foresters head coach Bill Pintard said. “Speed kills, and I don’t know what our record is with those guys in the line-up but it’s got to be really high.”
After Vertigan scored, Cardona was pulled in favor of Ryan Sandler (Berkeley), who was unable to stop the Foresters scoring run. McNeil was brought home on an RBI-double by Jeff McVaney (Texas State), who eventually reached home on a balk. Jared Womack (Oklahoma State) also had a double in the inning in which the Foresters added four runs.
Ian McCarthy (Oklahoma State) relieved Mormann and had a stellar outing. He looked comfortable on the mound as he was throwing to his college teammate Womack, and allowed just one hit in four innings.
Austin Kubitza (Rice) closed the game and continued the solid Forester pitching.
The Foresters (20-8 overall, 16-8 CCL) and the Oaks (16-13 overall, 11-13 CCL) will both take a break from league play to compete in the Rawlings California Cup, starting Thursday and ending Sunday. The tournament champion earns a berth in the NBC World Series in Wichita.
All Foresters games are broadcast on AM 990 KTMS and www.sbforesters.org.
GAME NOTES: Brett Vertigan reached based and scored in his first three at bats… The winner of the Rawlings California Cup will receive an automatic bid to the NBC World Series… Garret Bayliff (Wichita State) had his first RBI of the season.
