In a rare pitching duel this season, the Santa Barbara Foresters scored three runs in the seventh inning to break a scoreless game and held off Santa Maria Pea Soup, 3-1, on Thursday at Pershing Park.
Peyton Graham and Branden Boissiere hit back-to-back singles to start the seventh against Alex Leach, the third Santa Maria pitcher. Noah Cardenas hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Graham for the first run. After the second out, Sean McLain and Bryce Warrecker hit RBI singles.
Connor Gurnick singled in a run in the ninth for Santa Maria. Alex Crosby hit a two-out single to right, and Gurnick headed to third. But Foresters’ right fielder Ryan Holgate fired to third baseman Graham who tagged Gurnick for the final out.
Santa Barbara starter Kyle Luckham threw six innings and allowed one hit, struck out four and didn’t walk a batter. Casey Dykstra and Steven Zobac pitched the seventh and eighth, respectively, and Jay Proctor came through in the ninth.
Santa Maria’s Sean Johnson and Chase Walter shut out the Foresters for six innings.
The Foresters (18-3) welcome the SoCal Giants to Pershing Park on Friday at 6 p.m. The game can be heard on KCSB.org/sports.
Due to county and city health guidelines, fans are not permitted to attend games at Pershing Park.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.