WICHITA — Out of the 32 teams that entered this year’s National Baseball Congress World Series, the Santa Barbara Foresters are the only squad to remain unbeaten.
The Foresters trounced the San Diego Waves 7-0 in the winner’s bracket final on Wednesday night at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. They’ll play the Haysville Heat Thursday at 5:30 p.m. PDT to try and earn a berth in Saturday’s championship game. A loss would put them in an elimination semifinal on Friday.
For the second straight day, Santa Barbara pitchers combined to pick up 16 strikeouts while the offense continued to execute and take advantage of opportunities. Wichita State’s Albert Minnis picked up the win with five innings of two-hit ball, bringing his record to 2-2 on the summer. He struck out five and walked five.
“Our pitchers were pounding the strike zone and offensively we’re just getting it done right now. If we play how we know we should, we’ll be fine,” said third baseman Derek Legg, who had three hits with an RBI and a run scored.
A day after Codey Morehouse struck out the side in the eighth and ninth innings, flamethrower Stephen Johnson did the same for Santa Barbara. Although the stadium radar gun has been generally believed to be a bit skewed all week, the crowd buzzed when Johnson’s fastball registered at 100 mph (he has reached 97 mph this summer).
San Diego committed six errors on the night while Santa Barbara threw up a zero defensively. UCSB’s Joe Wallace continued to have a breakout tournament, driving in three runs on two hits.
All games are broadcast on AM 990 and www.sbforesters.org. Thursday’s game will be tape-delayed by one hour, beginning at 6 p.m. PDT.
