A 10th-inning outburst powered the Santa Barbara Foresters to a 7-2 extra-inning win over the Orange County Riptide on Thursday at Great Park in Irvine.
The Foresters (24-5-1) are now riding a four-game winning streak heading into their final weekend set of the regular season.
Santa Barbara will host the Santa Maria Indians on Friday at 4:30 p.m. before back-to-back home games against the San Luis Obispo Blues on Saturday and Sunday.
Thursday’s matchup was a pitchers’ duel throughout, with the two teams ending nine innings of play tied up at 2-2.
The Forester offense then woke up in the 10th, as Cole Chamberlain (Oregon) led off with a two-run home run to score himself and the ghost runner on second base.
The bats stayed hot, as Joseph Sadusky (Texas A&M) and Carter Rutenbar (Arkansas) singled before Kurt Ippolito (Baylor) walked to load the bases.
Chris Newstrom (UCSB) extended the lead to 5-2 with an RBI sacrifice fly, and Rutenbar came in to score on the next at-bat thanks to a passed ball.
Ippolito then rounded out the scoring when he crossed home on a run-scoring fielder’s choice off the bat of Caleb Hoover (Nebraska) to make it 7-2.
Kaleb Rogers (Texas) then took the mound for the bottom of the 10th and worked around a leadoff single to deliver a scoreless frame and secure the win.
Earlier in the game, the Foresters scored once in the top of the first and again in the third to take an early 2-0 lead.
However, the Riptide cut that lead in half with a run in the bottom of the third, and that score held until they pushed across another run in the seventh to even the score.
Both bullpens held strong in the eighth and ninth innings to set up Santa Barbara’s strong 10th-inning showing.
Noah Waldeck (Mercer) started the game for the ‘Sters, allowing one unearned run on one hit while striking out six in five innings of work.
Joey Wittig (Louisiana Tech) then tossed a 1-2-3 sixth before handing the ball to Rogers, who struck out six in the final four innings of the game to earn the win.
Rutenbar paced the offensive attack by going 3-for-5 with two runs scored, while Newstrom went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI.
