Foresters Shutout MLB Academy Barons 3-0
Gavin Cash Accounted For Two of the Foresters Four Hits in the Game
A three-run homer by Gavin Kash was all the offense the Foresters needed to secure a 3-0 victory over the MLB Academy Barons on Friday night at Pershing Park.
Four Foresters pitchers, including Parker Smith, Alec Grossman, Ian Chruchill and Nick Proctor combined to shut out the Barons and keep Santa Barbara unbeaten at home.
“We didn’t have a lot of walks. Smith got into problems early in the game, but we didn’t have a lot of walks later and we got going,” said Foresters manager Bill Pintard. “I thought the bullpen was really good. We had been walking guys earlier and allowing teams to get free passes and we’re trying to do a better job with that and we did do a better job.”
Foresters pitchers only surrendered three walks over the course of the game, Smith delivered a quality start striking out five in six strong innings.
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“I felt good. I just wanted to go out and limit the walks this time,” Smith said. “It’s always good to know your offense is behind you and the early runs lifted the weight off my shoulders.”
Kash came up to bat with two-outs and two runners on in the bottom of the first inning and smacked a three-run homer to right-center. It was the first home run of the season for the Foresters and Kash has been a bright spot in the Foresters’ lineup since joining the team last week.
“He can hit. They told us he can hit,” said Pintard of Kash. “We’ve just got to keep plugging away and let our guys see pitches. We are only seven games into this thing so we need to be real about that.”
Alec Grossman, Ian Churchill and Nick Proctor closed out the shutout flawlessly. Proctor, the returning closer from the 2021 championship team, earned his first save of the summer by striking out the side in the ninth.
With the victory the Foresters improve to 3-4 on the season and will take on Conejo Oaks on Saturday at Pershing Park beginning at 6 p.m.
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