The Santa Barbara Foresters presented the 2014 national championship banner and then opened their 2015 season with a 5-0 victory over the San Diego Waves on Saturday at UCSB’s Caeser Uyesaka Stadium.
Gary Cornish, of the University of San Diego, pitched six shutout innings to earn the win. He struck out six and didn’t walk a batter.
First baseman Troy Conyers provided the big blow with a massive home run to right field. The Foresters scored two more runs in the fourth on back-to-back two-out doubles by shortstop Matt Whitney and second baseman Marcus Hutchinson.
Santa Barbara scored two more in the sixth inning on singles by outfielder Michael Smith and catcher Jeremy Montalbano.
Tylor Megill from LMU shut down the Waves over the final three innings to preserve the shutout.
“I was really happy with how it went on our first day,” said manager Bill Pintard. “We had a great crowd and it was good to see great pitching, great defense, and clutch hitting in our first game together.”
Before the game, the Foresters presented the 2014 NBC World Series National Championship banner to those loyal fans. The first pitch was thrown by Javier Quezada of game-day sponsor Montecito Bank & Trust.
The Foresters and Waves play again on Sunday at 1 p.m.
