Santa Barbara Foresters Seek a Four-Peat Title

The 2023 Santa Barbara Foresters are aiming for an unprecedented fourth consecutive NBC World Series title, but building towards a championship is rarely a straightforward process — the winding journey begins on Saturday, June 10.

The Foresters will unveil almost an entirely new roster when they host the SLO Blues in their season opener. Only two players return from last year’s team, but manager Bill Pintard is confident they’ll come together over the course of the summer.

“It just depends on how the boys play. We always start off slow. We don’t have a good June, but then we get going,” Pintard said. “One year we didn’t lose a game after the all-star break in early July. Last year we only lost two or three.”

One of the unique aspects of the Santa Barbara Foresters program is familial atmosphere, which begins with the coaches, who have so much fun doing their jobs that it trickles down to the players. In addition, the Santa Barbara fans get behind the team year after year, creating an intimate atmosphere at the ballpark.

“We have fun coaching and it rubs off on them. They should have fun playing,” Pintard said. “We tell the players before the game that they are lucky that they get to play today; us old farts, we don’t get to play anymore. It sucks.”

Many of the top players will be participating in the NCAA Tournament with their college teams and therefore join the Foresters when they are eliminated. That includes former San Marcos standout Chase Hoover, now finishing up his freshman season at TCU.

UCSB catcher John Newman Jr., who has displayed an impressive hitting ability with the Gauchos, makes his Foresters debut. In addition, Westmont will be well represented on the Foresters this summer after winning the NAIA National Championship, including pitcher Gabe Arteaga (from Bishop Diego), Zach Yates, and Sean Youngerman.

The rest of the roster is made up of some of the top young players from around the country, including three from Arkansas, three from TCU, three from Texas Tech, three from the University of Texas, and four from Oklahoma.

One of the top players joining the Foresters is TCU shortstop Anthony Silva who hit .346 this season with seven home runs.

Saturday’s season opener against the SLO Blues begins at 6 p.m. at Pershing Park. See sbforesters.org.