Nate Rivera’s walk-off bases-loaded walk clinched a 7-6 extra-inning comeback victory for the Santa Barbara Foresters over the Coastal Dodgers on Sunday at Eddie Mathews Field.
The Foresters and the Dodgers went back-and-forth throughout the afternoon, with Santa Barbara mounting a rally in the bottom of the 10th to come out on top of the local matchup.
While the Foresters are made up of college baseball players from across the nation, the Dodgers boast a roster filled with many local players who grew up and played high school baseball on the Central Coast.
The two teams were within striking distance all game, and they ended nine innings of play knotted at 5-5 to send the game into extras.
The Dodgers took advantage of the automatic runner on second in the top of the 10th, as Connor Chanley advanced to third on a wild pitch and came in to score on an RBI sacrifice fly by San Marcos and SBCC alum Brad Cekada (CSU Monterey Bay) to go up 6-5.
In the bottom of the tenth, Brady Janusek (Baylor) was the automatic runner for the ‘Sters and immediately stole third base. Wylan Nelson (SBCC) was then walked to set up Joshua Woodworth (Pepperdine) to belt a double and score the game-tying run and put runners on second and third.
Nick Salmon (Oregon State) was then intentionally walked to load the bases and bring up Joseph Sandusky (Texas A&M), who struck out for the first out of the inning.
Rivera, who attends El Camino College and was a replacement catcher for the day for the Foresters, then stepped to the plate and worked a five-pitch walk to score the winning run and give his team the victory.
It was a pitchers’ duel early, as Santa Barbara starter Henry Prindl (Creighton) and Shane Grant of the Coastal Dodgers, a Dos Pueblos alum, each fired three scoreless innings to begin the day.
The Foresters broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning, beginning with singles from Cole Chamberlain (Coastal Carolina) and Wylan Nelson (SBCC) to put runners on the corners and two outs.
Santa Barbara then caught a break, as a pitch on the ensuing at-bat got past the Dodger catcher and allowed Chamberlain to scamper home and score to take a 1-0 lead.
Prindl finished off his outing with another scoreless frame in the fifth, ending his day with five no-hit innings and an impressive 10 strikeouts.
Meanwhile, the Forester offense kept it rolling in the bottom half. Rivera doubled and Makani Nabarro (Hawaii) walked to start the rally, and later in the inning Chamberlain came through with an RBI single to double the lead to 2-0.
During the next batter, Santa Barbara grew its lead to 3-0 when Chamberlain stole second and Addison Klepsch (UC San Diego) came in to score on the same play.
The Dodgers finally broke through in the top of the sixth, and it was thanks in part to a series of defensive miscues by the Foresters.
Tane Kurth (Puget Sound) led off the inning by reaching second base on a Santa Barbara error. Following a wild pitch, he came in to score on an RBI double by Cekada.
Cekada then made his way to third on a wild pitch, and Andrew Vega (San Jose State) followed by walking and stealing second to put runners in scoring position with no outs.
Ashton Bluem then provided the biggest blow of the inning, roping a single into center field to score Cekada and Vega to even the score at 3-3.
The rally ended there, as Forester righthander Brody Berlowitz (Central Oklahoma) then got a double play and a strikeout to keep the game tied.
After a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth by Dodger righthander Connor Gries (Allan Hancock), the offense got right back to work and grabbed its first lead of the day in the top of the seventh.
The first run of the inning came on another Santa Barbara error, as Cekada’s grounder was fumbled and Judah Hill (East Texas Baptist) came in to score to take a 4-3 lead and put runners on the corners.
Cekada was then thrown out attempting to steal second, but James Luderer (Ventura College) took advantage of the throw down and came in to score from third to make it a 5-3 advantage.
The Foresters bounced back with a run in the bottom of the seventh when Klepsch singled home Sandusky to make it 5-4.
In the bottom of the eighth, Janusek led off with a double, reached third on a passed ball and came in to score the game-tying run on an RBI sacrifice fly.
Santa Barbara’s Carter Speights then tossed a scoreless top of the ninth, while recent San Marcos alum Miles Herbert escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom half to send the game into extra innings.
Woodworth and Chamberlain led the Foresters with two hits apiece, while Nabarro reached base three times from the leadoff spot.
Meanwhile, Cekada and Bluem each drove in two runs as the Dodgers’ upset effort fell just short.