Luke Taggert tossed six innings of shutout ball Saturday night, as the Santa Barbara Foresters defeated the San Francisco Seals by a score of 5-0.
The University of Oklahoma product notched 11 strikeouts and allowed just two hits and didn’t issue a walk. His outing was the longest by a Foresters’ pitcher on the season.
As he has done throughout the young season for Santa Barabra (14-3), Jace Jung provided the offensive punch. The Texas Tech commit, who entered the game with a .575 batting average, went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs. His solo home run to centerfield in the bottom of the first opened the scoring for Santa Barbara, and he followed it up with an RBI single in the bottom half of the third to give the Foresters a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, Christian Encarnacion reached on an error and advanced to second base. He later scored on a safety squeeze by Peyton Graham to make it 3-0.
Graham ripped a two-out double in the bottom half of the sixth and scored on an RBI single by former Santa Barbara High star and future Cal Poly Mustang Bryce Warracker to make it 4-0.
Warracker added an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth to round out the scoring.
Ian Churchill relieved Taggert in the seventh and struck out four in his two innings of work. Dylan Porter retired the side in order in the ninth.
The Foresters’ pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts on the night to help Santa Barbara split the two-game series.
The Foresters will be back in action today, taking on the Santa Maria Pea Soup at 2 p.m. at Pershing Park. No spectators are allowed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
