The Santa Barbara bats exploded for the first time this season on Friday night.
The Foresters broke open a tight game with four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on their way to a 9-2 victory over the San Luis Obispo Blues at Eddie Matthews Field.
Cody Matthews got the start and allowed one unearned run in his 4.2 innings on the mound.
Jake Fields, Ty Baker, Jax Lewis and Diego Ramos were all solid in relief.
Santa Barbara scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning as Kaden Peterson singled to lead off the game and scored onJack Holman’s fielder’s choice. Later in the inning, Daniel Patterson singled to left field, which scored T.J. Pompey, increasing the Foresters lead to 2-0.
The Foresters were clinging to a 2-1 lead until the bottom of the seventh inning.
Peterson sparked the surge with another leadoff hit. Nolan Souza followed with a ground-rule double, and a pinch-hit fielder’s choice by Jesse Di Maggio tacked on a run.
Later in the inning, a Nik Sanders pinch-hit double, scored Souza from second, and Drew Markle singled to right to bring home pinch runner Jack Bollinger from third base. Johnny Rodriguez followed suit by putting a slow rolling ball into play that was bobbled by the Blues pitcher allowing the opportunistic Drew Markle to score from second.
Addison Klepsch added a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning.
With the win the Foresters improved to 3-2 overall this season and will host the Arroyo Seco Saints on Saturday beginning at 4:30 p.m.