A late rally and defensive miscues from the Foresters gave the SLO Blues the 5-3 extra-inning victory in the 4th of July rivalry game at Pershing Park.
Tuesday’s game was the second extra-inning affair between the two teams in as many days.
The matchup started out all Santa Barbara, as starting pitcher Robert Cranz struck out the side in the first and the Foresters picked up a run in the bottom half on an RBI sacrifice fly by Max Belyeu.
After two scoreless innings, Santa Barbara extended its lead to 2-0 thanks to a pair of errors on the same play by the San Luis Obispo defense.
The Blues offense finally woke up in the top of the fifth with an RBI double to cut the lead in half, but Forester second baseman Gianni Horvat answered back with a line-drive home run over the left-field fence to bring the lead back to two at 3-1.
From the sixth inning on, the game was all Blues, thanks in large part to struggles by the Santa Barbara defense.
Following a scoreless sixth and seventh inning, San Luis Obispo tied the game up in the top of the eighth courtesy of a pair of errors and a dropped third strike that reached the backstop and scored a run.
With the game tied at 3-3, neither squad could get a run across in the ninth inning, sending the game to extra innings.
The Blues took advantage of the ghost runner on second to begin the inning, as a passed ball advanced him to third base and a balk by Forester pitcher Zach Yates brought him home. They managed another insurance run by way of an RBI sacrifice fly, putting the lead at 5-3 heading into the bottom of the 10th.
With their backs against the wall, the Forester offense went down in order to end the game and give the Blues the road victory.
Cranz was dominant as the starter for Santa Barbara, allowing one run on two hits through five innings while striking out nine.
Offensively, Daniel Patterson led the way with a 3-for-5 performance while Horvat turned in a multi-hit game including the homer.
The Foresters and Blues will face off once again in the rubber match of this week’s three-game series on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Pershing Park.
