Foresters improve to 4-0 in Wichita

WICHITA — The Santa Barbara Foresters entered a one-hour thunderstorm delay in a 4-4 tie with the Kenai (AK) Oilers, and when the lightning subsided the Foresters did not. It led to a 6-4 win that went into the early hours of the morning once again, leaving Santa Barbara in the winner’s bracket final. That game will be played Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. PDT against the San Diego Waves. The broadcast will be tape-delayed by 30 minutes on AM 990 and www.sbforesters.org.

Derek Legg had two RBIs and Foresters pitchers combined to strike out 16 Oilers. Austin Kubitza picked up the win while Spenser Messmore and Codey Morehouse each contributed two stellar innings of relief.

“Going into the game I knew it was going to be a dogfight,” said manager Bill Pintard. “We knew we were going to have to take advantage of all of the opportunities, and we really did.”

Early deficits have been a thorn stabbing Santa Barbara all season, but the Foresters got singles from Jeff McNeil, Jeff McVaney and Michael Ratterree in the top of the first to go up 1-0. Kenai nabbed three singles in the third to tie the score, but the Foresters fired right back with three runs on four hits in the top of the fourth. Legg and Brett Vertigan had doubles in the inning.

Stephen Branca, Ryan McChesney and Boomer Collins hit back-to-back-to-back singles in the bottom of the fourth, capped by a two-run RBI double by Mike Miller to tie the score at 4-4.

Weather reports showed heavy thunderstorms moving in early in the game, and lightning was streaking across the sky to the West all night. When some light precipitation began in between the fifth and sixth innings, tournament officials pulled a tarp over the pitcher’s mound and a one-hour delay ensued. The question then became whether or not Kubitza could stay warm and continue after the break.

“He thought he could do it when we took him down to the bullpen during the delay, but when the game started again it became apparent that he wasn’t the same,” said Pintard.

The All-American cave up a walk and a single to start the sixth before being replaced by Messmore, who retired the remaining Oilers in order to get out of the jam. He made a sliding catch of a bunt attempt for the first out.

McNeil laid down a sacrifice bunt with two strikes and no outs in the sixth that allowed McVaney to drive in Shane Kroker on a fly ball to center field and break the tie. Legg dded an RBI single in the seventh to end the night’s scoring.

Morehouse gave up a single but struck out every other batter he faced over the final two innings to get the save.