The Santa Barbara Foresters put on an offensive clinic for their younger opponents, scoring 14 runs on 18 hits Tuesday night.
The California Wahoos are made up of some of the top high school players from the Central Coast region, whereas the Foresters draw from college players all over the nation.
The Wahoos were on the wrong end of the 14-6 blowout at Cesar Uyesaka Stadium in Goleta.
Kirby Bellow (Texas) started the game for the Foresters, and gave up two runs on three hits while striking out four batters in four innings.
Ryan McNeil, a recent Nipomo High School graduate, started the game for the Wahoos. The first batter he faced was his older brother Jeff McNeil (CSU Long Beach) who hit a line drive single right his younger sibling.
McNeil pitched three innings, and gave up three runs on six hits while striking out three Foresters.
He was relieved by Gabe Speier, who will enter his junior year at Does Pueblos High School in the fall. Speier struggled against the potent Foresters offense, and allowed six runs in the only inning he pitched.
After the fourth inning, every Forester started had a hit in the game.
Jason Hursh (Oklahoma State) relieved Bellow and had one his finest performances of the season. He was perfect through one and two-thirds innings with three strikeouts before he felt pain in his elbow and was pulled from the game.
“I’m very concerned,” Foresters’ head coach Bill Pintard said. “He’s going to have an MRI. He was 94-96 [mph] an he had tremendous movement. It’s the best he’s thrown for us all summer, and then this happens. This could be a little bitter sweet for us.”
Kyle Friedrichs (CSU Long Beach) came in for Hursh, and Garrett Bayliff (Wichita State) closed the game.
Danny Zandona came in after the Foresters broke the game open in the fourth, but was unable to calm the Santa Barbara bats. Zandona, a recent Santa Barbara High grad and reigning Santa Barbara County Player of the Year, pitched two and two-thirds innings and gave up five runs.
Richard Stock and Lance Roenicke both went 3-for-5 for the Foresters. Roenicke hit his first home run of the season for two of his three RBI’s in the game.
The Foresters (29-8 overall, 20-8 CCL) return to California Collegiate League play against the San Luis Obispo Blues tomorrow night at 7:00 PM in San Luis Obispo. The Foresters have a two-and-a-half game lead over the Blues atop the CCL standings.
All Forester games are broadcast on AM 990 KTMS and on www.sbforesters.org.
GAME NOTES: Jeff McVaney (Texas State) is in the midst of a 14 game hit streak for the Foresters… Jeff McNeil’s stolen base in the 2nd inning was the 100th steal by a Forester base runner this season… Forester outfielder Nick Melino saw playing time for the first time in several weeks and is still recovering from a back injury… Bill Pintard is 4 wins away from reaching 700 career victories.
