Starting pitcher Bryce Warrecker hurled five no-hit innings as the Santa Barbara Foresters won their ninth straight summer collegiate baseball game, defeating the So Cal Halos 13-2 Tuesday night at Pershing Park.
Warrecker (3-0), a June graduate of Santa Barbara High School, struck out six Halos. He retired their first 13 batters before walking Willie Barcena with one out in the fifth inning. He then got Jayden Fein to hit a ground ball to shortstop Matthew McLain for a double-play to complete his five-inning performance, facing the 15-batter minimum.
The Cal Poly-bound righthander lowered his earned run average to 0.39. In nine appearances and 23 innings, Warrecker has struck out 36 and allowed just seven hits, two walks, and one run.
Jace Jung and Christian Encarnacion both hit three-run home runs to power the victory.
Jung briefly tied Encarnacion for the team lead when he belted his seventh homer of the year in the seventh inning. But Encarnacion pulled back ahead with his eighth by hitting a three-run shot in the next inning to cap Santa Barbara’s scoring.
The Foresters (22-3) out-hit the Halos 14-2. Noah Cardenas went 4-for-5 and knocked in Santa Barbara’s first run, scoring Peyton Graham with a first-inning double.
Graham’s two-run single capped a four-run fourth for the Foresters. Casey Dystra and Matthew McLain also had RBI singles in the inning.
McLain, who is batting a team-high .519 (40-for-77), went 2-for-5.
Encarnacion was also 2-for-5. His four-RBI night included a run-scoring single in the fifth. He leads Santa Barbara with 34 RBIs this summer.
The Halos scored both of their runs in the sixth inning off reliever Charlie Adamson. Rudy Aguilar led off with a walk and took third on Ethan Hagan’s double. After a hit batter loaded the bases, So Cal scored on a ground out and a fly out.
Three other Santa Barbara relievers — Titus Groeneweg, Nick Proctor and Elijah Trest pitched a scoreless inning apiece. Trest closed out the victory by retiring the side in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts.
The Foresters will return to Pershing Park tonight at 6 o’clock to play Santa Maria Pea Soup Andersen’s. Spectators are not allowed, however, because of COVID-19 restrictions.
email: mpatton@newspress.com
