Mercy! Foresters Stomp Bat Cats
On a hot, humid, windy day in Wichita, the Santa Barbara Foresters showed why they are 10-time NBC champs with an emphatic 8-0 mercy rule victory over the Great Bend Bat Cats. Seven different players picked up RBIs in the win, and Forester pitching only gave up four hits over their seven innings of work.
While the Foresters struck first via a Chris Newstrom RBI, who brought home leadoff hitter Carter Rutenbar, who started things with a single, it was the defense that shined early. Kurt Ippolito made a great diving catch to prevent a run in the first, and Sawyer Farr turned a double play by flipping a lineout onto first in the second.
Santa Barbara extended the lead in the third when Brady Janusek legged a leadoff triple that found the warning track before eventually trotting home on Rutenbar’s RBI single, his second hit of the game.
‘Sters started might have been plagued by the leadoff hitters for Great Bend, yet he still held them to nothing across the five innings he worked. Through his outing, only two Bat Cats collected hits, while he struck out five of them.
Zane Becker helped Waldeck complete his outing and get out of a jam in the fifth. Like usual, Becker had his arm working, trying to get runners, and this time he got one, managing to backpick the runner at first and escape the inning.
The two-run lead for the Foresters was blown to seven come the bottom of the sixth, with five different players picking up RBIs. Addison Klepsch started things with his RBI single, followed by Ippolito, Becker, Brady Janusek, and Rutenbar picking up RBIs with Santa Barbara batting around.
New Forester pickup Daniel McAulff, hailing from Pittsburgh, relieved Waldeck come the sixth, making his debut for the club. He worked quickly and efficiently, inducing a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh.
Donovan Lasalle then stepped up to lead off the bottom half, taking over the DH spot when he pinch-ran for Caleb Hoover. He proceeded to lift a ball to deep center, and with the wind blowing, the ball found the ground beyond the wall, extending the lead to eight and activating the run rule, effectively acting as a walk-off.
The Foresters are back at it tomorrow at 10 pm PST to take on the BTL Hornets. All the action is streamed live on the NBC World Series YouTube.