It was going to be tough to beat the Santa Barbara Foresters anyway. Liberal needed to win by nine or more over the Foresters to win the pool. Walks and wild pitches were costly in a 7-2 loss late in a Tuesday night at Eck Stadium in Wichita as part of the 92nd NBC World Series. Santa Barbara stole 11 bases. B.J. pitching walked 10. Santa Barbara out-hit the Bee Jays 8-6.
Santa Barbara scored four in the third with one hit and five walks. Santa Barbara added two in the sixth. Liberal scored in the seventh. Seth Green bounced a ground rule double to left. Ben Finnegan grounded out to score a run. It was the first run allowed by the Foresters in the tournament. Santa Barbara added a seventh inning run. Cole Manuel doubled to lead off the eighth and scored on Kaden Isola’s bloop single.
Ben Finnegan and Kaden Isola had two hits a piece. Jack Taczy and Skyler Raley pitched a scoreless inning a piece.
Liberal finishes third in their pool at 1-2 and is 22-11-1 overall. Santa Barbara is 29-6-1. Liberal plays Wednesday night at 6pm against Hutchinson on 1270 and 92.3 FM.
