The Santa Barbara Foresters secured their first California Collegiate League sweep of the season this weekend by taking three straight from the visiting MLB Academy Barons.
Santa Barbara completed the sweep with a 6-5 walk-off win on Sunday after outscoring the Barons 24-5 on Friday and Saturday.
Joey Epperson scored the winning run on Sunday on a wild pitch, capping a come-from-behind victory. Epperson finished the series 6-for-11 with five RBI.
Louie Lechich drove home six runs in Saturday’s game alone, when he hit for the cycle. Lechich doubled in the second, homered in the fourth, tripled in the fifth and completed the cycle with a single in the seventh. Lechich is 4th in the CCL with a .382 batting average in 55 at-bats.
Ben Johnson stole bases on Saturday and Sunday and leads the league in that category with 15. Johnson also tripled and collected 4 RBI in Friday’s game.
Other weekend highlights include an 11-strikeout performance on Friday by Drew van Orden. The Duke Blue Devil leads all other pitchers with 38 strikeouts and is tied for the league lead in wins with four. Van Orden holds an ERA of 0.96 through 28 innings.
The weekend’s sweep makes Santa Barbara 11-8 in CCL play, while MLB Academy falls to 7-12.
Santa Barbara takes a day off on Monday before traveling to face the Conejo Oaks on Tuesday. The Oaks are also 11-8 in the CCL North.
BOX SCORES
Friday: Foresters 13, Barons 6
Saturday: Foresters 15, Barons 3
Sunday: Foresters 6, Barons 5
