Foresters Fall to Hutchinson Monarchs 6-3 in NBC World Series Championship Game

A magical run of success at the NBC World Series by the Santa Barbara Foresters finally came to an end in the 2023 NBC World Series Championship game.

The Hutchinson Monarchs sprung the upset, 6-3, behind a masterful performance by starting pitcher Cole Toureau as a furious late-inning rally by the Foresters fell short.

“They came up with some big hits in some big situations,” said Santa Barbara Foresters head coach Bill Pintard of the Hutchinson Monarchs. “I do have to commend that team because they were hot and they ended up hitting over .300 for the tournament and averaging 11 runs per game.”

Coming into the championship game the Foresters were riding a 20-game winning streak at the NBC World Series and captured three consecutive championships. The Foresters had not lost a Championship game in the NBC World Series in over a decade.

The Santa Barbara bats were dormant early in the game as Toureau held the Foresters to two runs on six hits in his 7.1 innings on the mound. He did a nice job of mixing his fastball and offspeed pitches to keep the Santa Barbara batters off balance and when the Foresters did hit the ball hard it seemed to be right at a Monarch player.

Carson Turnquist got the start for Santa Barbara and was solid in his 4.2 innings on the mound, surrendering two unearned runs and striking out eight. 

The Monarchs scored first with two runs in the fifth inning  on a double by Will Edmunson that brought home Jarrett Flaggert and Caleb Cotton. Hutchinson tacked on two more runs in the sixth and seventh innings to go ahead 6-1.

The Foresters scored one run in the seventh inning on a Will Rogers single that scored Max Belyeu, but left two runners on base.

Santa Barbara added two more runs in the eighth inning. Miguel Santos drove in pinch hitter Daniel Patterson with a ground out to second base and Belyeu singled up the middle to drive in Jalin Flores from second to cut the Foresters deficit to 6-3.

“There wasn’t one guy in the dugout who didn’t think we would come back,” said Pintard of the Foresters’ rally.

However, Scott Reed came in to pitch the ninth for the Monarchs and retired the Foresters in order to secure the victory.

Foresters pitcher Zane Petty out of Texas Tech was named the outstanding pitcher of the tournament after going 2-0 and pitching 13 scoreless innings. Petty struck out 15 batters and surrendered just six hits.