The Santa Barbara Foresters will have a new home for the 2024 summer baseball season.
Due to field and scheduling issues with their permanent home field of Pershing Park, the Foresters will play their home games at Santa Barbara High’s Eddie Mathews Field.
“We love playing at Pershing Park and are grateful to the City of Santa Barbara and the Parks and Recreation department for working with us to play at Pershing every summer since 2017,” Foresters manager Bill Pintard said.
“But because of the late rains this Spring, we will not have enough time to renovate the field in time for our upcoming season. We have been able to accomplish this in the past, but the additional rainfall, combined with the fact that the California Collegiate League is starting its season a week early, there just isn’t time.”
The home opener for the Foresters at Eddie Mathews Field will be on Sunday, June 9th at 2 p.m. against the Ventura Pirates.
In total, the home schedule for Santa Barbara will include 20 games through July 20th.
“We consider ‘the Perzh’ (Pershing Park) to be our home field, and it is our desired place to play,” Pintard said. “Our fans enjoy riding their bikes down to the magnificent waterfront to catch our games.
“And we are certainly very grateful to the City of Santa Barbara, especially the Parks and Recreation department and to Santa Barbara City College for providing us a home at Pershing.
“For 2024, we thank Santa Barbara High School Administration and Athletic Department for helping us out and providing us a great place to play.”
Despite the change in venue, the Foresters will still offer a concession stand and the regular team taco truck from El Camino Catering at home games.
The Foresters will look to bring the NBC World Series title back to Santa Barbara in 2024, which would give the organization its 11th national championship.
“No matter where we play, we’ll be doing all we can to make Santa Barbara proud,” Pintard said.
For more on the upcoming 2024 Santa Barbara Foresters season, visit www.sbforesters.org.