Legends Comeback Falls Short, Foresters Win 4-3
Santa Barbara, Calif. – Game two of the three game series between the Menlo Park Legends and the Santa Barbara Foresters was made interesting by a late surge from the Legends. After the bats remained relatively dormant for eight innings, they found life in the top of ninth inning by scoring twice to make it a one run game. Unfortunately for the Legends that would be as close as they would make the game before they ultimately lost 4-3 to the Foresters. After consecutive losses to the five-time NBC Champions, the Legends are 9-4 on the summer, as are the Foresters.
Santa Barbara used single runs in the second, third, and fourth innings to take a 3-0 lead over the Legends. Ryan Lefner was on the mound for Menlo Park and struggled to retire the Foresters in order, failing to get a one-two-three inning during his four-inning stint. He would ultimately allow five hits, the three runs, and strikeout one. The first run came across for Santa Barbara on a double steal, the second run on a homerun with two outs, and the third on a Chandler Bengston error at first.
Menlo Park got on the board in the top of the fifth inning when Chandler Bengston atoned for his error and absolutely mashed a homerun to right field. The solo shot off the bat of Bengston was his third of the summer, the most on the Legends. But the big inning would continue to elude Menlo Park as the Foresters pitching stifled the Legends bats until the ninth inning, with the Legends down 4-1.
The inning got started with a Nick Brooks double to left-center. He was followed by Sean Watkins, who singled on a blooper to shallow center. With runners on the corners, Bengston produced at the plate again with a single to right field, scoring Brooks and moving Watkins to third. Tyler Nelin produced the first out of the ninth but it was a sacrifice fly left that scored Watkins. The Legends were able to pull within one run and two more outs to go, but Turner Bishop and Clayton Casey were unable to move the runner from first and the Legends dropped game two of the series.
The Legends will have their chance to get a win in Santa Barbara on Sunday (Father’s Day) as the series with the Foresters wraps up. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 PM and live game coverage can be found on the Legends Radio Network.
