The Santa Barbara Foresters won their second game at the NBC World Series in walk-off fashion, taking down the Great Bend Bat Cats 5-4 in 10 innings on Sunday.
Jalin Flores got the Foresters started in the bottom of the 10th with a leadoff double and Max Belyeu followed that up with a dribbler to the pitcher that was thrown into the outfield, allowing Flores to score the winning run.
With the win, Santa Barbara will have a chance to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals when they take on Sandlot Tulsa on Tuesday at 1 p.m. PST.
In Sunday’s win, the Foresters cracked the scoreboard first in what proved to be a back-and-forth affair throughout. Santa Barbara went up 1-0 in the second inning with Ryan Black singling home Miguel Santos.
After a scoreless third, the Bat Cats captured their first lead of the game in the fourth with two RBI singles to go up 2-1.
It was Belyeu and Pace providing the scoring for the Foresters in the fifth inning as an RBI single by Melyeu knotted the game up at 2-2.
Great Bend answered right back with a two-run single to recapture the 4-2 advantage.
Then it was Santa Barbara in the seventh that plated a pair of runs to tie the game at 4-4 thanks to an error by the Bat Cat defense and a base hit by Flores.
A scoreless eighth and ninth inning set up the Foresters to walk it off in the 10th to move to 2-0 in pool play at the NBC World Series.
Carson Turnquist started on the mound for Santa Barbara, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out seven in four innings of work. After Robert Cranz worked four innings in relief, Westmont’s Sean Youngerman closed the game out with two perfect innings.
The Foresters (2-0) will look to go undefeated in pool play with a win against Sandlot Tulsa (0-2) on Tuesday.
