The Santa Barbara Foresters have returned to NBC World Series glory.
The Foresters won their 11th NBC World Series title and snapped a three-year drought with a 7-2 victory over the Alaska Goldpanners in the championship on Saturday at Equity Bank Park in Wichita, Kansas.
Santa Barbara’s 11 NBC World Series championships are the most of any team in the 92-year history of the NBC, and the latest title capped off one of the organization’s best seasons ever.
The ‘Sters finish the 2026 summer with an overall record of 32-6, including a California Collegiate League South Division title and the NBC World Series championship.
As had been the story throughout the tournament, Saturday’s title matchup was a pitchers’ duel in the early stages. Zane Burns (Oklahoma State) got the start for the Foresters, striking out five and allowing just two hits in four shutout innings.
Grady Westphal (Kansas State) then took over on the bump and fired a scoreless fifth, but the Forester offense struggled to string together hits and the game remained a 0-0 tie heading into the sixth.
The Santa Barbara bats finally broke through in the top of the sixth, beginning with a Chris Newstrom (UCSB) double and walks from Carter Rutenbar (Arkansas) and Sawyer Farr (Oklahoma) to load the bases with one out.
Easton Moomau (Texas Rio Grande Valley) then delivered the first run of the contest, driving in Newstrom on an RBI sacrifice fly to take a 1-0 advantage.
However, the Goldpanners answered right back with a rally of their own in the bottom half, plating the game-tying run on a bases-loaded walk and taking a 2-1 lead on an infield single.
Luke Cornelison (Arkansas) came on for the Foresters in the middle of the sixth to stop the bleeding and keep the deficit at one run.
After a scoreless seventh inning, Santa Barbara got the break it needed in the top of the eighth.
Rutenbar walked to begin the inning, and Kurt Ippolito (Baylor) followed with a sacrifice bunt attempt, which was fielded and promptly thrown into the outfield to score Rutenbar from first and tie the game at 2-2.
Following a groundout that advanced Ippolito to third base, the Alaska pitcher was called for a balk, and Ippolito trotted home to score the go-ahead run and take a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the eighth.
Cornelison rode the momentum from the top half into a 1-2-3 bottom half, including a pair of strikeouts.
The Forester bats put on one final show for the people of Wichita in the top of the ninth, plating four runs courtesy of an RBI triple by Newstrom and RBI singles by Ippolito, Farr and Joseph Sandusky (Texas A&M).
Cornelison then came on and put the cherry on top, cruising through a perfect bottom of the ninth to secure the win and bring the NBC World Series trophy back to Santa Barbara.
Ippolito went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Newstrom went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and Rutenbar drew four walks and came around to score twice.
The Forester pitching trio of Burns, Westphal and Cornelison struck out a combined 12 batters to finish off a dominant tournament run.
The Santa Barbara pitching staff allowed just four runs in six games played and tossed four shutouts on its way to claiming the tournament championship. Along the way, the ‘Sters outscored opponents 49-4.
The Santa Barbara players will now disperse to their respective colleges for the school year, and local Forester fans will now have to wait until next June for their next summer ball game.
