The Santa Barbara Foresters jumped out to an early lead and never looked back en route to a 7-2 win over the Arroyo Seco Saints on Saturday at Eddie Mathews Field.
The ‘Sters (12-1) have now won eight consecutive games, and Saturday’s win was the second in as many games against the Saints.
Santa Barbara plated two runs in the bottom of the first when Josh Woodworth (Pepperdine) drove in Addison Klepsch (UC San Diego) with an RBI sacrifice fly and the ‘Sters executed a double steal in which Carter Rutenbar (Arkansas) scampered home to take an early 2-0 lead.
That lead held until the bottom of the fifth, as AJ Krodel (UCSB) was in complete command on the bump for the Foresters. The Gaucho allowed just one hit and struck out seven in four scoreless innings.
 After Tanner Grove (Cal) fired a shutout fifth, the Foresters added to their lead in the bottom half thanks to a Kurt Ippolito (Central Christian) RBI single and a two-run knock off the bat of Brady Janusek (Baylor) to make it 5-0.
Arroyo Seco scored its lone two runs in the top of the sixth, but Santa Barbara got them right back in the bottom half as Christian Turner (Arkansas) roped an RBI single and Klepsch drove in a run on a groundout.
From there, Max McGrady (Cal Lutheran), Carter Speights (UC Davis) and Joey Wittig (Louisiana Tech) each tossed scoreless innings of relief for the Foresters to secure the 7-2 victory.
Santa Barbara will face off against its rival San Luis Obispo Blues for the first time this summer on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Sinsheimer Stadium in San Luis Obispo.