By ALEC NOLAN
The Santa Barbara Foresters capitalized on a pair of San Diego Waves infield errors in the 11th inning and walked off with a 2-1 victory Sunday at Caeser Uyesaka Stadium.
With runners on first and third, Texas State freshman Dylan Paul hit a soft dribbler past the mound. San Diego shortstop Andrew Schneider could not cleanly field the slow-roller, allowing Studdard to score the winning run.
Before the game, Foresters coach Bill Pintard recognized the dedication of DJ and Doris Cavanaugh, as they were given the honor of throwing out the first pitch.
“They have worked very closely with the Foresters baseball program over the years, doing everything they can to help us raise money and house ballplayers during the summer months,” said Pintard.
Texas Tech senior Matt Withrow started on the mound for the Foresters and pitched three scoreless innings, striking out six, allowing three hits, and two walks. Arizona Western’s Kyle Sachrison posted a solid fours innings as the Waves starter, giving up just two hits and no earned runs against the Foresters.
The pitching duel left the bats quiet through six innings. That all changed in the top of the 7th, when Waves third baseman Mitch Bumman sent a towering drive over the left-field wall off Tyler Cohen to end San Diego’s 16-inning scoring drought against the Foresters this weekend.
The ‘Sters looked to rebound in the bottom of the eighth when Mississippi State’s Michael Smith led the inning off with a pinch-hit triple into the left-center gap. Later in the inning, Brandon Evans was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Matt Whitney headed to the plate with a chance to pull the Foresters ahead.
The Waves brought in pitcher Cole Lang, who lost control early in the count and threw a wild pitch to the backstop that allowed the speedy Michael Smith to slide across home to knot things up at 1-1.
With runners on second and third, Whitney drew a walk to load the bases once more. Granger Studdard stepped to the plate with a chance to blow things open for Santa Barbara but bounced into a double play to end the inning.
The Foresters once again found themselves with an opportunity to end the game in the 11t. Studdard led off with a walk against Cole Lang. Montalbano followed with a groundball to third that looked like an easy double play to end the inning. But Bumman’s throw sailed over the second baseman, and the Foresters’ hopes stayed alive.
The Waves outhit Santa Barbara, 10-6, but the errors late in the game cost them a chance to split the weekend series.
Dylan Brown picked up the win for the Foresters while Lang took the loss for San Diego.
The Foresters (2-0) return to action on Thursday, June 4th when they visit the Santa Paula Halos.
