Credit: Courtesy

The Santa Barbara Foresters open their 31st season of collegiate summer baseball this weekend, with home games at Pershing Park on Friday (June 18) and Saturday at 6 p.m. With the end of California’s coronavirus restrictions, fans will be able to sit in the bleachers rather than watch the games from behind the outfield fences as they did last year.

Despite the empty seats, Santa Barbara’s 2020 season was a huge success on the diamond. The Foresters went 30-4, winning 17 of their last 18 games, culminating in the club’s eighth National Baseball Congress World Series championship at Wichita, Kansas.

Because some of this year’s prospects are still playing out their college seasons, Foresters manager Bill Pintard said the club will take time to build up to full strength.

They will play their first game on the road Thursday against the Santa Paula Halos, and the same teams will play Friday at Pershing. On Saturday, the Inland Empire Pirates will visit the Foresters. There will be a food truck and beer concession in the park.

Pintard said there is a need for host families, the club’s traditional method of housing players during the seven-week season. Contact info@sbforesters.org or (805) 684-0567.



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