Jackson Cloud led the Santa Barbara Foresters’ second straight shutout to begin their season in a 4-0 win over the Ventura County Pirates in Sunday’s home opener at Eddie Mathews Field.
It was the Foresters’ first-ever game at Eddie Mathews Field on Santa Barbara High’s campus, where they will be playing home games this year after Pershing Park was not ready to go for the summer season.
The Forester faithful showed up despite the change in venue, as the stadium seats and bleachers were full while plenty of fans stood behind home plate to enjoy the game as well.
“It was a great crowd, it was packed,” Santa Barbara manager Bill Pintard said. “Thank you to the Santa Barbara Unified School District and Santa Barbara High for allowing us to play on this field, we’re very grateful.”
Cloud, a Santa Ynez High product and CSU Northridge Matador, got the start for the Foresters and shined. He tossed six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out nine.
“It’s awesome, [I grew] up going to Foresters games and my dad and both my uncles played for the Foresters,” Cloud said of starting for his hometown team. “It’s a great tradition and I’m really pumped that I’m able to do it.”
After a scoreless first and Cloud working out of a jam in the second, the Santa Barbara offense struck in the bottom of the second.
UCLA’s Jack Holman led off the inning with a double to right-center field and advanced to third on a wild pitch. The next two batters were retired, and Holman was at risk of being stranded.
However, Dos Pueblos High’s Jesse Di Maggio, who will begin his Westmont career next season, came through for the Foresters.
The local product roped a single through the right side of the infield to give Santa Barbara an early 1-0 lead.
That proved to be all Cloud needed for his outing, as he found plenty of success against the Pirates throughout his outing.
“It feels great, it helps when you have a really good defense and a bunch of players that will make above-average plays,” Cloud said. “I felt really good, the cutter was working really good and the fastball was good with swing and misses.
“I’ve been playing with the changeup and that was good today.”
He ran into some trouble in the sixth when a single and an error put the typing run on third with one out. However, he buckled down and struck out the next two batters to get out of it and ignite the Santa Barbara crowd.
“We figured that he would be our best option to go and extend the game out,” Pintard said. “When he did fall behind he was able to refocus and get back onto counts and he made pitches when he had to.
“He’s such a good kid and he’s such a great competitor.”
The sixth marked the end of Cloud’s outing, and he handed the ball to Ty Zahradnik, a 6-foot-7 lefthander from the University of Oklahoma.
Zahradnik was perfect in his two innings of work, striking out a pair across the two 1-2-3 frames.
The bottom of the eighth seemed like it was going to be another scoreless inning, as a pair of outs to begin the frame was broken up by a Kennedy Dee walk.
However, the Forester offense awoke from its slumber and poured in three insurance runs, the first of which came on an RBI double by Auburn’s Addison Klepsch.
After a walk by Dylan Fishbough, Will Rogers beat out a throw for a run-scoring infield single to make the score 3-0.
The final run of the inning came after back-to-back free passes were issued to the Foresters, as Dominic Smaldino was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to expand it to a 4-0 advantage.
Garrett Stratton, a rising junior from Rice University, came into the game in the ninth and slammed the door, striking out two of the three batters he faced.
The victory brings the Foresters’ early-season record to 2-0. In the two games, the Santa Barbara pitching staff has allowed just five hits and zero runs.
“I thought we pitched really well, that’s two bagels in a row,” Pintard said. “It’s really big for us to win these games early, it sets a tone to the rest of the league that we’re going to be a force again.”
The Foresters will face off against their rival San Luis Obispo Blues on Tuesday at Eddie Mathews Field at 4:30 p.m. The game will be live streamed on the Foresters’ YouTube channel.