The Boys of Summer Return: Santa Barbara Foresters Open 2026 Season

The Santa Barbara Foresters officially opened their 2026 season Saturday, June 6th, against the Philippines Baseball Group at Eddie Mathews Field at Santa Barbara High School. Still, before the first inning began, the Foresters celebrated a piece of their own history. Former Forester Alum and UCLA standout Cassidy Olson, who played for the 'Sters in 1996 to 1997, returned to the diamond for Opening Day's ceremonial first pitch—with his son, Bronco, firing a strike down the middle past home plate. Olson highlighted that his time with the Foresters was very meaningful to him, noting that his longtime mentor and Foresters Coach Bill Pintard helped him achieve his athletic goals. The pregame moment highlighted the family atmosphere, tradition, and sense of community that have helped make the Foresters one of California's premier summer baseball programs. 

In the team's most recent meeting on July 17th, 2025, the Foresters achieved a 10-3 victory behind offensive outbursts in the second, third, and fifth innings, as they did in this game. Wearing their traditional white jerseys for the first home game of the 2026 season, to start the season off strong, the Foresters started Pedderdine's right-handed pitcher, Jack Fowler, who was accurate in most of his pitches and made sure his task at hand was championed by his strikeouts and or defense behind him. Throughout the five innings that Fowler was on the mound, he allowed no runs and had five strikeouts.  

Continuing that same momentum on the mound, at the top of the sixth inning, right-handed pitcher Henry Prindl, middle, relieved Fowler, facing a strong spot in the Philippines' lineup where they ended up getting a run on the board in that relative timeframe from his start on the mound. At the top of the seventh, Caleb Hoover, Nebraska commit right-handed pitcher, came in for Prindl, marking his grand return in a 'Sters jersey and coming in with a shaky start but successfully finding his groove. Hoover made good use of his slider and fastballs; he faced a decent part of the Philippines' lineup, where he held the score in the top of the seventh: 6 to 1. 

At the bottom of the seventh, after Kurt Ippolito struck out swinging, the Opening Day crowd sat at the edge of their seats at the crack of Zane Becker's wooden bat. With the bases loaded, Becker did not miss. He jumped on a good pitch, sending a towering, no-doubt drive out past the outfield fence. As Makani Nabarro, Joshua Woodworth, and Aidan Camberg jogged home. Becker rounded the bases, greeted by the cheers of Foresters fans. The swing of the bat had turned into a nail-biter moment where the Foresters added 4 more to their 6-to-1 lead. 

Post-game, Becker stated on the way that he hit his grand slam was, "I saw a pitch that I thought I could drive and put a good swing on it. Had a good approach and caught it out front, had a good swing." In the ten games that Becker played at Texas A and M, he did not hit any home runs or grand slams. For the Foresters and himself, this was a big accomplishment now under his belt. 

In the last inning of the first game of the 2026 season, coming into pitch for Trent Roach, Lucien Weschberg went three up three down, ending the game with a 13 to 1 win over the Philippines Baseball Group. 

The wait is over — Foresters baseball is back in action. Following the first win of the season, the Santa Barbara Foresters will return to Eddie Mathews Field to play the Santa Maria Indians tomorrow, Sunday, June 7th, starting at 2 pm.