The Santa Barbara Foresters opened their 2026 summer season with a bang, rolling to a 13-1 rout of the Philippines Baseball Group on Saturday at Eddie Mathews Field.
The ‘Sters dominated both at the plate and on the mound, despite missing several players who are expected to join the team in the coming weeks. When asked what the goal is for the early-season games without the full roster, Forester manager Bill Pintard said it is to “establish the identity of our team and chemistry.”
Pintard was happy about his team’s first step towards this goal, as he followed up by saying he wants the team identity to be “just exactly the way we played today.”
“We played really good Forester baseball, which I’m really pleased about because it’s the first game,” Pintard said.
Santa Barbara lefthanded starter Jack Fowler (Pepperdine) was in complete control in the opening stages, allowing just two baserunners in the first three innings.
However, the Forester offense took a few innings to warm up as the game remained tied at 0-0 heading into the bottom of the third.
Kurt Ippolito (Central Christian) led off the bottom of the third with a double into right-center field to spark a rally and give the ‘Sters their first hit of the day.
After a walk and a passed ball put runners on the corners, Marcus Greis (TCU) dropped a perfect safety squeeze to score Ippolito and give SB a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, the Foresters grew their lead to 2-0 on a Philippine error that brought Liam Wilson (Harvard) around to score.
“We talked before the game and said we want them to be aggressive on the bases, and then we talked about manufacturing runs. It’s what you have to do, and we did,” Pintard said.
Following another scoreless frame by Fowler in the top of the fourth, the Santa Barbara offense got right back to work and doubled the lead to 4-0.
The first run came in to score on an RBI groundout by Wilson to score Makanni Nabaro (Hawaii), who walked to begin the rally.
During the next at-bat, Ippolito, who singled earlier in the frame, attempted to steal third and the throw from the Philippines catcher sailed into left field, allowing Ippolito to trot home and score.
Fowler put the finishing touches on his outing with a 1-2-3 fifth inning, ending his day with just one hit allowed and five strikeouts in five shutout frames.
“[Fowler] did exactly what he was set out to do and what he thought he was going to do,” Pintard said. “He was ready to go, and he was spot on. It was really good.
“We didn’t really want him to go that long, but he was really low on his pitch count. What he did do is he really attacked the zone.”
The Philippines got on the board with a run-scoring groundout in the sixth, but the Foresters immediately responded with an RBI single by Gries to bring the lead to 6-1 heading into the seventh.
Santa Barbara then blew the game wide open in the bottom of the seventh. Three straight walks led the way for Zane Becker (Texas A&M) to lift a grand slam over the left-field wall and balloon the lead to 10-1.
The Foresters put the finishing touches on the lopsided win in the eighth, as a two-run single by Josh Woodworth (Pepperdine) and an Ippolito RBI double brought the game to its final score of 13-1.
While Fowler supplied five scoreless innings, Santa Barbara utilized Henry Prindl (Creighton), Caleb Hoover (South Carolina), Trent Roach (Cal) and Lucien Wechsberg (Pepperdine).
“I was very pleased with all my pitchers,” Pintard said.
Offensively, Ippolito led the way by going 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Meanwhile, Becker’s grand slam gave him the team lead in RBI after one game with four.
The Foresters will have a quick turnaround, hosting the Santa Maria Indians on Sunday at 2 p.m at Eddie Mathews Field.