SANTA BARBARA, Calif.- Evan Yates was the starting pitcher Friday night playing only three innings and letting only one run in. John Hahn came in to relive Yates at the bottom of the fourth inning where the Foresters offense was hard to overcome. Hahns pitching would not compare to the powerful batting from the CCL defending champions, the Foresters.
The Foresters scored a total of seven runs by the end of the fourth leaving the Foresters with a six run lead. During the fifth inning Dominic Souto got hit by a pitch on the left side of his helmet taking him out for the rest of the game. Souto went to the Foresters trainer to get looked at while his teammates tried to gain more runs in order to make the run gap smaller.
Chase Valentine was an offensive and defensive firecracker who was constantly on his toes waiting for the next play to come his way. Valentine broke the run gap by getting an RBI single putting some luck into the Riptide dugout.
Both Shane Taylor and Zach Thomas also got RBIs in the fifth inning allowing the Riptide to only be down by two runs. 6-8.
The Foresters would go on to get two more runs against pitcher Trevor Meisner leaving the final score 10-6 Santa Barbara Foresters.
The Riptide went through four pitchers Friday, Caleb Turner closed not allowing any runs in.
The Riptide will play again Saturday against the Conejo Oaks @ 4:00 PM at George “Sparky” Anderson Field.