The Santa Barbara Foresters fell short of their fourth straight NBC World Series title after a 6-3 loss to the Hutchinson Monarchs in the championship game of the NBC World Series on Saturday in Wichita, Kan.
The Foresters were trying to become the first team to win four straight championships since the Wichita Dreamliners (1962-65).
The Foresters end the season with a record of 35-11 to go along with a 25-10 record in California Collegiate League regular season play. Santa Barbara entered the title game with a 20-game winning streak.
The game was slow out of the gates, with Forester starter Carson Turnquist and Monarch righthander Cole Toureau each turning in four scoreless innings to begin the game.
After Toureau got out of the top of the fifth unscathed, Hutchinson scored a pair of runs in the bottom half. The Monarchs jumped out to the lead after an error and a single set the table for a two-RBI double by Will Edmunson.
The hot bats continued for Hutchinson after a scoreless top of the sixth by the Foresters, as they added two more runs on a pair of RBI doubles, extending the lead to 4-0.
Santa Barbara finally found some success offensively in the top of the seventh with an RBI single off the bat of Will Rogers to score Max Belyeu. However, they left two runners on base to end the inning down 4-1.
The two-run innings continued for the Monarchs in the seventh, with the runs coming this time by way of a two-run homer by Jaden Gustafson to bring the lead to 6-1.
The Forester bats kept the momentum in the top of the eighth, bringing two runs across and cutting the lead to three thanks to an RBI groundout by Miguel Santos and an RBI single from Belyeu.
Following a scoreless bottom of the eighth by Sean Youngerman, Santa Barbara had one more half-inning to get back in the game. However, they couldn’t get the job done and fell just short of the organization’s 11th all-time title.
The Foresters will begin their quest for No. 11 next summer as they look to begin another streak of championships.
