The Santa Barbara Foresters had their 11-game winning streak snapped in the form of a 3-1 loss to the San Luis Obispo Blues on Thursday at Eddie Mathews Field.
Despite the loss, the Foresters (15-2) are off to one of their best starts in the organization’s history and remain atop the California Collegiate League South Division standings. Meanwhile, the Blues (17-4) lead the CCL North standings.
After Santa Barbara lefty Hunter Vincent (Texas A&M) and SLO starter Corbin Giesen went 1-2-3 in the first, the Blues opened the scoring in the top of the second.
San Luis Obispo got on the board with an RBI single to take a 1-0 lead, but Vincent kept it there by striking out the side.
Vincent shook off the earned run and responded by striking out the side in the third before he was pulled in the fourth following a leadoff single.
He was replaced by Josh Woodworth (Pepperdine), who was welcomed to the game with a first-pitch, two-run homer by SLO’s Kyle Becker to extend the Blues’ lead to 3-0.
After the Foresters stranded a leadoff baserunner in the fourth, they had their best chance to score yet in the bottom of the fifth with runners on the corners and one out.
Cole Chamberlain (Coastal Carolina) went down swinging to bring up Marcus Gries (TCU), who blistered a hard line drive off the SLO pitcher, who gathered the ball and got the out at first to preserve the 3-0 lead.
Noah Waldeck (Saint Mary’s) then came on for a 1-2-3 top of the sixth, setting the stage for the ‘Sters to scratch across their first run of the day in the bottom half.
Back-to-back walks sparked the rally before Kurt Ippolito (Central Christian) came through with a two-out single up the middle to score Sawyer Farr (Texas A&M) to make it 3-1 heading into the seventh.
After another scoreless frame from Waldeck, the ‘Sters provided some action in the bottom of the seventh, but it didn’t come from its offense.
While the Santa Barbara bats went scoreless again, a series of borderline strike calls by the home plate umpire drew a series of reactions from Forester manager Bill Pintard, who was promptly ejected from the game.
Following a scoreless eighth and a shutout top of the ninth by Forester reliever Will Jordan (Texas Tech), Santa Barbara had one last chance with its backs against the wall in the bottom of the ninth.
The leadoff batter flew out, and Caleb Hoover (Nebraska) followed with a walk to start the rally. Gries then belted a double into the right-center field gap, but Joseph Sandusky (Texas A&M), who was pinch running for Hoover, was gunned down at home on a relay throw for the second out.
That didn’t completely take the wind out of the Foresters’ sails, however, as the next two batters reached via a walk and a catcher’s interference to load the bases with the game-winning run on first base.
However, Carter Rutenbar (Arkansas) then rolled into a fielder’s choice groundout for the final out to give the Blues the rivalry victory.
The Foresters will look to begin a new winning streak back at home on Friday against the San Diego Waves at 4:30 p.m. at Eddie Mathews Field.