June 22, 2018 Santa Barbara, CA Jackson Wolf (West Virginia) struck out eight with no walks allowed over five innings and his offense got just enough to earn him the win as the Santa Barbara Foresters continued their remarkable run to open the season by beating the Southern California Catch 4-2 tonight at Pershing Park. Winners of ten straight to open the CCL season, and winners of three straight in as many days against the Catch, the Foresters relied on their pitching tonight. Wolf was dominant. Surrendering a lead-off single to Anj Bourgeois (Biola) to start the game, the left-hander retired the next ten batters he faced in order before allowing a bunt single with one out in the fourth. Undaunted, Wolf struck out the next batter and then picked the runner off base to get out of the inning unscathed. Similarly in the fifth inning, Wolf allowed a lead-off single to Omar Ortiz (Cochise College), but Ortiz was erased in the next at bat when Wolf induced a double-play ground ball and, after allowing another single, Wolf retired the final batter he faced on a ground out. The Santa Barbara offense meanwhile, which was outhit tonight by the Catch hitters eight to six, managed one run in the fourth inning when Luke Ritter (Wichita St) led off with a double and scored one out later when Kameron Guangorena (Cal St Fullerton) drove him in with an RBI-ground out to put Wolf in line for the win. Catch starting pitcher Hayden Jorgenson (Azusa Pacific) kept pace with Wolf in the early innings, retiring the first eight batters he faced and allowing only one baserunner, a two-out single by Brandon Zaragoza (Oklahoma) in the third inning, before Ritter opened the scoring in the fourth. In the sixth inning, however, the Foresters got insurance runs off Jorgensen when Ryan Cash (Oklahoma State), Ritter and John Jensen (UC Irvine) hit consecutive singles to open inning, eventually plating two runs to make the score 3-1. Conner Woods (UNLV) was the first relief pitcher inserted into the game, relieving Wolf in the sixth inning and striking out the side but, in the seventh, Woods allowed three walks, a single by Ortiz and the Catch to get within striking distance 3-2. But that is as close as they would get. Brad Demco (Sam Houston State) came into the game with two outs in the seventh and squashed the Catch rally by picking off a runner and then retired the first two batters he faced in the eighth before allowing a single by Daniel Jung (Notre Dame) and a double by Hill Alexander (Dallas Baptist) to put the tying and go-ahead run in scoring position. Zack Matthews (Oklahoma) relieved Demco and struck out Ortiz to end the threat and then pitched a scoreless ninth to close out the win. Santa Barbara took advantage of an error and two walks to score their final run of the game in the eighth inning to make the final score 4-2. Click here for recaps of this game There were no other CCL games today.