Foresters beat Blues after bench-clearing brawl

SAN LUIS OBISPO — A baseball game briefly morphed into a boxing match on Thursday, as a third-inning fist fight set the tone in the Santa Barbara Foresters’ 6-4 win over the San Luis Obispo Blues at Sinsheimer Park.

With the Foresters up 2-0 in the third, second baseman Jeff McNeil was plunked in the back by Blues starter Dylan Mendoza. McNeil had taken exception to being hit in a previous game against the Blues, and was supposedly being heckled early in Thursday’s game. The first pitch of the bottom half of the inning found the back of Blues catcher Thomas Bernal, who immediately found himself face-to-face with Foresters catcher Jared Womack. The words turned to shoves, and the shoves to punches as a benches-clearing brawl ensued, with Womack and Bernal on the ground in the middle of it. Things soon calmed down and the two catchers were ejected.

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“A couple of words were exchanged after what had happened in the inning before and I didn’t think it was acceptable. Things escalated pretty quickly,” said Womack, sporting a welt on his forehead. “I’m doing great. It’s good to pick up a win after that.”

Both managers said that the incident was part of a longstanding rivalry, and that it’s part of the game at a high level.

“It’s baseball. It was handled by both sides, it’s over, and we played hard the rest of the game. I think that’s what two professional clubs do,” said Blues manager Chal Fanning, who also said that the Foresters “over-dramatized” the situation.

Foresters (25-8, 17-8 CCL) manager Bill PIntard said that hitting Bernal was unintentional, and that although McNeil’s plunking seemed intentional, he trusts Fanning’s claim that it was not.

“It looks like (McNeil) has a target on his back, but I trust Chal and his word,” said Pintard. “It’s baseball; it happens. People don’t like to get hit.”

More importantly, the Foresters increased their league lead over the Blues to two games. While they have already clinched their trip to Wichita next month for the National Baseball Congress World Series, they are trying to win their ninth consecutive CCL title.

Albert Minnis went six innings and gave up two runs on four hits, striking out two, while Jeff McVaney went 3-for-3 and reached base all five times at the plate. San Luis Obispo, meanwhile, committed two errors back-to-back in the top of the first and fell in an early 2-0 hole. They would close the lead to one, but Santa Barbara tacked on two late insurance runs to make it 6-3 in the eighth, allowing a cushion for standout reliever TJ McGreevy to shut the door.

The Blues (23-10, 14-9) were led by Sal Belfonte’s three hits and four RBIs, and had an 8-strikeout relief appearance by Harmin Sehdu. The Oregon State righty gave up two runs on three hits over the final four innings.

Pintard said he would talk to his team about the incident, and also said that he would simply tell Womack “That’s a way to stick up for your teammate.”

Fanning denied that his team has an issue with McNeil, pointing out that starter Mendoza wasn’t even with the team for the season’s first series.

“I don’t even know Jeff,” he said. “I don’t know who he is other than he’s from Nipomo and that he’s a good player. I don’t have anything against him. All of (the Blues players) are from out of state. There was one guy on the club, and he’s no longer with us.”

Both managers say that the incident will be put behind them and that good baseball will hopefully continue to be played when the teams meet up again at the same field on July 20^th.

McNeil singled and got to third on an error to start the game, scoring on an error at second base on the very next play. Shane Kroker was driven in from second on a single by James Wharton before the first inning ended. McNeil was hit and scored again to make it 3-0 Foresters in the third.

Bernal was hit and the fight ensued in the bottom of the third, after which Minnis allowed runs on back-to-back RBIs by Chad Christiensen and Zac Elgie. Derek Legg singled and scored on a wild pitch in the fourth to lift the visitors’ lead to 4-2, and Belfonte doubled before scoring to cut the lead back to one at 4-3 in the seventh. Foresters outfielder Joe Wallace drove in UCSB teammate Lance Roenicke with a two-out single in the eighth, and McVaney singled in McNeil, who scored his third run in the top of the ninth. The Blues got one back on a Belfonte double in the bottom of the ninth, but it wasn’t enough.

The Foresters host the Glendale Angelenos in a league contest Friday at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast with a one-hour delay on AM 990 and www.sbforesters.org.