The Santa Barbara Foresters used a seven-run fifth inning to pull away and earn a 14-5 win over the Conejo Oaks on Saturday at Sparky Anderson Field in Thousand Oaks.
AJ Krodel of UCSB got the starting nod and tossed three strong innings before a trio of Foresters (2-0) combined in relief, including 3 ⅓ shutout innings courtesy of Arkansas’ Joshua Hyneman.
After Conejo scored in the bottom of the first, the Foresters evened the score at 1-1 in the top of the second when Easton Rulli of Central Arizona scored on an error.
Later in that inning, Maddox Mandino of Louisiana came through with a two-run single to put Santa Barbara in front 3-1.
Following a scoreless third inning, the Oaks battled back with two runs in the fourth to tie the game back up at 3-3.
However, the Forester offense then erupted with seven runs in the top of the fifth inning to take a 10-3 lead and blow the game wide open.
The scoring began when Cuesta’s Makani Nabarro scored on a fielder’s choice hit by Easton Moomau of UT Rio Grande. Santa Barbara then caught a break as two runs came in to score on back-to-back balks to bring the lead to 6-3.
After another run came in to score on a bases-loaded walk by Ottawa’s Grant Madrid-Murray, Nabarro drove in two with a single and Mandino roped an RBI single to make it 10-3.
That lead held until the top of the eighth when Brenton Clark of Arkansas walked with the bases loaded and Rulli drove in Moomau on a fielder’s choice, bringing the score to 12-3 in favor of the Foresters.
In the top of the ninth, Texas A&M’s Sayer Farr roped an RBI triple to score Mandino. Farr then came around to score on an error to expand the lead to 14-3.
James Goodcase of the University of San Diego then tossed a scoreless bottom of the ninth to clinch the win for the Foresters.
Santa Barbara will remain on the road against the Academy Barons on Sunday at 1:05 p.m.