Santa Barbara’s Ty Culbreth won his second game of the season on Thursday.
The Foresters responded to their first two losses of the season in a big way on Thursday evening, defeating the Bakersfield Sound 13-4 at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium to improve their record to 10?2 on the season.
After dropping two of three games to the L.A. Brewers on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Foresters? offense exploded to score a season-high 13 runs on 16 hits.
?We were just getting back on track today,? Forester second baseman Garrett Mattlage said. ?We were in all three of those games, and we just took the intensity we had up there, brought it back here and added some.?
The Sound managed to put a run across in the first inning on three singles off of Forester starter Ty Culbreth, who said after the game that he had trouble getting his fastball down early on.
?It took me a couple innings to get [my fastball] down and after I did it was pretty smooth sailing,? Culbreth said.
Smooth sailing was an understatement for Culbreth, who settled down to scatter just four more Sound hits after the first inning. He picked up the win for the Foresters after pitching seven innings, allowing just two runs ? only one of which was earned ? and striking out eight batters while walking just one.
By the time the Sound scored again, the Foresters held a secure 11-1 lead.
?The offense really performed today,? Culbreth said. ?Once they did that, I felt like I could really attack the zone. It really helped me give myself confidence.”
The Foresters took the lead in the second inning with four runs off of four singles and an error. They scored another run in the third, then used a six-run fourth inning to blow the game open. Colt Atwood?s two singles, one of which was an RBI, highlighted the inning. Atwood would finish with three hits, two runs and two RBI.
Trailing 11-1, the Sound finally managed to score again in the sixth inning when Aaron Smith scored on a wild pitch after walking, advancing to second on a Matt Packer single, and making it to third on a fly out to left field from A.J. Steimel.
But by then, the Foresters had put the game out of reach. They turned to Brendon Shoemake to close the game out. Shoemake pitched the final two innings, allowing two runs on four hits.
Patience at the plate was once again crucial for the Foresters, who drew ten walks off of Sound pitchers, including five off of starter Logan Campbell.
Four Foresters ? Ryan O?Hearn, Austin Darby, Keaton Jones and Michael Deceglie ? walked twice. Manager Bill Pintard said patience at the plate helps the team execute its small ball style.
?We were really, really patient,? Pintard said. ?We talked about it before the game. We said if they were going to give us [walks], we were going to take them. We?ve been doing a really good job with it.?
Five Foresters had multi-hit games, led by Atwood and Mattlage, who went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Tyler Krieger went 3-for-6 with a run scored in his first game as a Forester.
For the Sound, Smith had three hits and scored three times, while Packer and Micah McCulloch each had two hits.
Before the game, Presidio Sports presented its high school All-City teams for baseball, softball and volleyball. The players are selected from Carpinteria, Santa Barbara and Goleta.
The Foresters next travel to Santa Paula to play the Halos. In their first meeting this season, the Foresters beat the Halos 9-1. Santa Barbara won’t be back at home again until next Friday.
