The Santa Barbara Foresters fell behind early and couldn’t recover in a 7-3 loss to the Orange County Riptide on Wednesday at Eddie Mathews Field.
The Riptide (11-10) raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first two innings and that proved to be enough as the Foresters (15-5) managed two runs in the third and one in the eighth, but fell short in their comeback effort.
Santa Barbara’s two-run third inning came courtesy of an RBI groundout by Easton Moomau and a run-scoring single by Cole Chamberlain to cut the deficit to 5-2.
However, after two scoreless frames, Orange County got those two runs right back in the sixth to grow its lead out to 7-2.
The Foresters rounded out the scoring in the eighth, but it was far too little, too late as the Riptide pulled out the win.
Santa Barbara will be back in action on the road on Thursday against the Academy Barons at 4:30 p.m.