Santa Barbara’s Cameron Cuneo struck out eight batters in six innings on Saturday to earn the victory. (Presidio Sports Photos)
The Santa Barbara Foresters season began on Saturday with left-hander Cameron Cuneo striking out eight, catcher Jeremy Montalbano launching a home run, and a bunch of new faces taking the field in a 2-1 decision over the Oceanside Waves at UCSB’s Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
The Foresters didn’t waste any time scoring their first run of the season as leadoff batter Jaylin Davis singled up the middle and scored from second base two batters later on a double by Dillon Dobson. Coincidentally, Davis and Dobson both come to Santa Barbara from Appalachian State where they are roommates. Davis was a Freshman All-American.
Dobson, hitting third in the order, provided the Foresters with their only multi-hit performance.
“I just wanted to be aggressive,” Dobson said. “First game out here, just have a little fun, hit the ball around, and I got lucky a couple of times, so good things happened.”
Santa Barbara’s second run came on a solo home run by catcher Jeremy Montalbano in the fifth inning.
Montalbano also had the responsibility of working with a pair of new pitchers.
“I thought our receiver for his first time, Montalbano, not knowing pitchers and everything else, I think he did a yeoman’s effort,” said Foresters manager Bill Pintard. “He was blocking a lot of stuff. That’s hard to do. These guys don’t even know each other’s first names yet.”
Santa Barbara’s Jaylin Davis rounds third base on his way to scoring the Foresters’ first run of the summer.
The Waves scored their lone run in the top of the sixth and threatened to score more in the seventh. The Waves loaded the bases with one out but the Foresters escaped the jam as relief pitcher Cody Evans struck out the next batter. Foresters right fielder Dave Graybill then made a sliding catch in the gap to preserve the lead.
“My centerfielder told me the pitch before, he’s like, ‘hey, expect one out here’ so I took a couple steps that way,” Graybill explained. “Right off the bat, I didn’t think I was going to be able to get there. The wind kind of held it up just enough and I just slid underneath it and caught it.”
Cuneo, a UCSB pitcher, struck out eight batters in six innings. Evans came on and pitched three scoreless innings to earn a save.
“I tried to keep them off balance, and I thought I did a good job after the first throwing fastballs away for strikes,” Cuneo said.
Cuneo and Evans scattered 11 hits. The Waves, who got two hits each from Brett Balkan, Kevin Carswell and Charlie Aznavoorian, stranded 11 baserunners, including six in scoring position.
Oceanside’s starting pitcher Bob Kraft – a New Mexico State Aggie – pitched an eight-inning complete game.
Saturday’s lineup was void of any returners from last season. Colt Atwood, Keaton Jones and a handful of newcomers will be arriving later in June after the College World Series and MLB Draft.
The Foresters and Waves complete their season-opening two-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Santa Barbara plays its first 10 games – and 14 of the first 15 – at home.
SANTA BARBARA 2, OCEANSIDE 1
Waves 000 001 000 – 1 11 1
Foresters 100 010 00x – 2 6 0Waves – Kraft, and Carswell
SB – Cuneo, Evans (7), and Montalbano.
