Jamses Wharton and Joe Wallace each had a home run as the Santa Barbara Foresters beat the Menlo Park Legends 9-1 on Saturday night in Santa Barbara.
The non-CCL game was the second straight win for the Foresters, who were on a ten-game win streak before losing to two games to the San Luis Obispo Blues earlier in the week.
Cody Morehouse (University of Houston) started the game for the Foresters and had one of hist best outings of the season. After struggling to find the strike zone and giving up a run in the first inning, Morehouse settled down and struck out five batters in five innings while allowing three hits.
“My go-to pitch the whole day was my change-up,” Morehouse said. “I could just set them up, and then go right at them with my fastball.”
Morehouse, who also plays third base for Houston, also had a couple of spectacular fielding plays during his winning performance.
Corey Zirbes started the game for the Legends, pitched six innings and gave up six runs on seven hits.
The Foresters broke the game open in the second inning after outfielder Joe Wallace (UCSB) hit a home run. After the Legends committed an error and allowed a base runner, hits from Chase Yost and Tyler Pearson (Rice) brought in two more runs for Santa Barbara.
Wallace, who has struggled offensively this season, also had a double and a run scored in the game.
“I was getting razzed by a bunch of guys on the team,” Wallace said. “I wasn’t in the home run club yet, and it was good to get that monkey off my back.”
The Foresters scoring continued in the third when Nick Melino hit the first pitch of the inning deep into right field for a ground rule double. Jeff McNeil (CSU Long Beach) also hit for extra bases and brought Melino home with an RBI-triple.
The Legends were unable to score after their first inning run, as Brad Kottman (Rice) pitched well in relief and Jeff McVaney (Texas State) closed the game.
James Wharton (CSU Los Angeles) entertained the fans at Cesar Uyesaka Stadium with one of the longest home runs of the season. In the sixth inning, Wharton crushed a ball well over the center field fence, which is 400 ft. from home plate.
The Foresters and Legends will play a double-header tomorrow starting at 1:00 PM in Santa Barbara.
Santa Barbara then has Monday off, and returns to California Collegiate League play on Tuesday with a home game against the MLB Academy Barons.
All Forester games are broadcast on AM 990 KTMS and www.sbforesters.org.
GAME NOTES: Menlo Park player/coach David Klein is the founder of his team, and is a former UCSB Gaucho and Santa Barbara Forester… James Wharton gave a pair of new blue baseball cleats to his teammate Joe Wallace before Saturday’s game, and both had home runs… The San Luis Obispo Blues lost in a CCL game against Team Vegas on Saturday, leaving the Foresters in first place by a full game.
