The Santa Barbara Foresters pulled off a 6-5 walk-off victory over the Academy Barons thanks to clutch at-bats by a trio of Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday at Eddie Mathews Field.
The Foresters went into the top of the ninth inning clinging to a 5-4 advantage, but the Barons pushed across a run in the top of the ninth to tie it at 5-5.
In the bottom of the ninth, Carter Rutenbar (Arkansas) led off with a walk and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Christian Turner (Arkansas).
Luke Cornelison (Arkansas) then stepped up to the plate and deposited a single through the infield to score Rutenbar and clinch the win for Santa Barbara.
Earlier in the game, the Foresters took an early lead as a run-scoring groundout by Sawyer Farr (Texas A&M) in the first gave them a 1-0 lead. After a scoreless second, Farr came in to score the game’s second run on a wild pitch to double the lead to 2-0.
The fourth and fifth frames went scoreless before the Baron offense woke up with a run in the sixth and three runs in the seventh to grab a 4-2 lead.
However, the Foresters immediately responded in the bottom of the seventh as Cornelison roped a two-run triple and came home to score on a passed ball to take the lead back at 5-4.
A scoreless eighth inning then set the table for the ninth-inning dramatics for the Santa Barbara win.
UCSB’s AJ Krodel fired four scoreless innings in his first outing of the summer for the Foresters, allowing just two hits and striking out eight along the way.
Recent San Marcos graduate Mason Crang (Fordham) then took over and surrendered one run in two innings of work before handing it off to Grady Westphal (Texas) and Joey Wittig (Louisiana Tech) to finish off the day on the mound.
The Foresters will round out their homestand against the San Diego Bombers on Sunday at 2 p.m.