The Santa Barbara Foresters took a late lead and held on for a 6-4 victory over the Arroyo Seco Saints on Wednesday at Jackie Robinson Field in Pasadena.
The Foresters are now 4-0 on the young campaign and will begin a four-game homestand beginning on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. against the OC Riptide at Eddie Mathews Field.
After two scoreless innings to begin the game, the Foresters erupted for four runs in the top of the third thanks to RBI singles from Chris Newstrom (Tennessee) and Kurt Ippolito (Central Christian) and a pair of Arroyo Seco errors.
However, the Saints answered right back in the bottom of the third by plating three runs to cut the deficit to 4-3 heading into the fourth.
The fourth inning went scoreless, and Arroyo Seco evened the game at 4-4 with a double to score an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth.
Caleb Hoover (Nebraska) tossed a scoreless sixth for the Foresters, who turned around and took the lead back in the top of the seventh.
Newstrom walked and stole second to begin the rally, leading the way for Brady Janusek (Baylor) to drive him in with a single. Later in the inning, Janusek came around to score on a run-scoring groundout by Nick Salmon (Oregon State) to take a 6-4 lead.
Brody Berlowitz (Central Oklahoma) and Trent Roach (Cal Berkeley) then came in and slammed the door on the Saints, with Berlowitz twirling two perfect innings and Roach striking out a pair in a 1-2-3 ninth.
Newstrom and Ippolito paced the Santa Barbara offensive attack with two hits apiece, while Janusek scored twice and drove in two runs.