Senators caught by Santa Barbara
Ford keeps Foresters in NBC driver's seat
BY JEFFREY LUTZ
The Wichita Eagle

Vienna would have needed to do better than a five-run first inning to worry Santa Barbara.
After scoring 32 runs in their first two games of the National Baseball Congress World Series, the offensive capabilities of the Forresters weren't in question. Neither was their confidence.
Santa Barbara responded to Vienna's five-run first with four runs in the bottom half, then went on to win 11-6 behind a strong pitching performance from Mike Ford and big nights from several hitters.

Foresters starter Mike Ojala didn't record an out and allowed five runs, but Ford virtually shut down the Senators and gave his offense time to get back in it. He lasted eight innings and allowed one run.

"I relieve on this team, but I usually start," Ford said. "So the long innings are nothing unfamiliar to me. My mindset was that we gave up five runs early and we needed somebody to hold them. I figured I'd be that guy and I got lucky, I guess."

Ojala walked the first three batters before hitting Shane Brown to force home a run. He was removed after the next two batters hit two-run doubles.

Ford stopped Vienna's momentum and may have swung it more in Santa Barbara's favor by escaping the jam quickly. He needed five pitches to retire the next three hitters in order. Ford pitched himself into several jams, but all that materialized for the Senators was an RBI groundout in the fourth that gave them a 6-4 lead.

"I wanted to kind of set the tone early and say, 'I'm here and you guys aren't going to be able to do anything off me,' " Ford said of his first-inning performance. "They had already scored most of the guys who got on base, so I was just sort of winging it -- just going for it."

The Foresters made it interesting again almost as quickly as Ford escaped first-inning danger. After a walk and an error put runners on first and second, Eric Oliver delivered a two-run double.

Two batters later, Kevin Keyes blasted a monster two-run homer that cleared the fence in the pavilion about 40 feet behind the left-field wall and traveled about 440 feet. Santa Barbara needed five more innings to take the lead, but proved in the first that no deficit was insurmountable.

"We were very confident in our offense," Keyes said. "We knew through the whole tournament that our bats would stay hot. We came back with four in the bottom of the first and from there we just kept the hitting attack going."

Keyes helped Santa Barbara tie it 6-6 in the fourth with a leadoff triple to the warning track in left field. He scored on Cameron Rupp's RBI single and, after a walk and another single, Chad Mozingo drove in the tying run with a sacrifice fly.

Rupp broke the tie with a solo homer in the sixth and the Foresters took control with a three-run seventh against four Vienna pitchers.

The Foresters' pitching situation was much more stable thanks to Ford, who allowed four hits and four walks but struck out five and, aside from the run scored against him, didn't allow a runner past second base.
Ford said he fed off the confidence of his hitters, who have put up double-digit run totals in each of their three games in the tournament.