After a 25-12 regular season record and their 10th straight CCL South Division title, the Foresters will look to win their third NBC World Series title in as many years starting Friday.
Santa Barbara will open up their quest for back-to-back-to-back championships on Friday at 6:30 p.m. when they take on the Haysville Aviators in Wichita, Kansas.
The Foresters will also open up their World Series with matchups against the San Diego Stars on Sunday and the Denver Cougars on Tuesday. The specific times for those games are still to be determined.
If Santa Barbara finishes either first or second in their pool, they will move on to the quarterfinals on Thursday, August 4.
Offensively this season, the defending champs have been led by a balanced attack where six regular starters are hitting over .300 (Hunter Ensley, Miguel Santos, Kevin Bazzell, Griffin Everitt, Gavin Kash, Rylan Charles).
Kash, who plays at the University of Texas, leads the team in both home runs (nine), RBIs (36) and runs scored (31).
On the pitching side, the most consistent starters for Santa Barbara have been Parker Smith, Graham Osman, Payton Tolle and Kyle Robinson.
Smith and Osman lead the team with 37 strikeouts apiece, with Osman leading the team with an impressive 0.25 ERA in 35 ⅔ innings pitched.
A solid starting staff has been backed up by a dominant bullpen throughout the summer, with Nick Proctor leading the way.
Proctor, the team’s closer, has not allowed an earned run and has struck out 30 batters in just 15 ⅔ innings of work en route to a team-leading six saves.
The Foresters will look to ride their balanced attack full of Division-I stars to their third straight title, and manager Bill Pintard believes that team will represent Santa Barbara well.
“We’ll play hard all the time,” Pintard said. “We’ll proudly represent Santa Barbara and our whole community in Wichita.”