The Santa Barbara Foresters were outhit and made more errors, but found ways to beat the Ventura Pirates 6-3 Friday in non-league action at Pershing Park.
The home team made six errors to the visitors’ two, but the Forester defense came through at key moments.
“As bad as the defense was, we made two outstanding plays at the plate,” Foresters manager Bill Pintard told sbforesters.org.
One of those came in the fifth inning on a sharp relay from center fielder Josh Stinson, after fielding a double by Pirate David Reyna — the game’s only extra base hit — to shortstop Jack Reidel, who fired the ball to catcher Zachary Leach, who tagged out a Pirates runner.
Meanwhile, only one of the Foresters’ six runs was batted in (by Leach). Santa Barbara opened the scoring in the first when Stinson caught the Pirates napping and stole home. Other runs in the sixth and eighth inning were aided by walks, wild pitches and passed balls.
The Foresters got just six hits, including two each by Stinson and DH Nathan Rombach.
Starting pitcher Brandon Beckel got the win, pitching five scoreless innings.
The Foresters are now 16-7 overall, and return to California Collegiate League play today, hosting the Academy Barons at Pershing Park. First pitch is at 6 p.m.
The Foresters are 9-7 in CCL play, good for second place in the CCL South, behind Arroyo Seco at 12-6.