Tustin baseball shut out by Nick Forest, Burroughs in Division 5 semifinals

TUSTIN – The Tustin baseball team couldn’t figure out Burroughs pitcher Nick Forest.

The junior struck out 12, including the first nine outs on strikeouts, and pitched a complete game to lead the Bears to a 2-0 victory Tuesday over the Tillers in the CIF-SS Division 5 semifinals at Tustin High.

The victory sends Burroughs (21-10) to the CIF finals for the first time in school history. The Bears will take on Moreno Valley on Friday or Saturday at Cal State Fullerton. The schedule for the CIF-SS finals will be announced Wednesday morning.

“Credit goes out to Nick Forest,” Tustin coach Ben Owens said. “He did a great job of cutting the plate in half and really dominating the outer half of the plate. We made an adjustment too little, too late. We don’t want to take credit away from those guys. They did a great job and are well coached. Coach (Matt) Magallon does a great job with his guys.

“For us, it was just too little too late. If we figured out a way to make those adjustments a little earlier, I think things could’ve been different.”

With one strikeout in the books for Forest in the first inning, Abel Castrejon doubled to center field for Tustin (20-11). Forest struck out the next two batters to end the inning and wound up striking out eight in a row. The streak ended in the fourth inning when Tustin’s Castrejon hit a flyout to center field.

Tustin’s second hit of the game came in the fifth inning on a single by Jake Phillips, but Phillips was later thrown out trying to steal second base.

Forest wound up pitching a shutout and allowed four hits, one walk and hit a batter.

“It was just hitting those spots,” Forest said. “I was hitting the outside corner and they were reaching for it. They started to catch on later in the game. I just kept trusting in my pitches. I think that is what helped us win the game. It was a blast.”

Forest also went 1 for 2 at the plate with an RBI.

The Bears scored their first run in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Nate Chapman hit a double, went to third on a bunt single by his brother, Andrew Chapman, and scored on a wild pitch.

Forest knocked in the second run with a single to right field that sent pinch runner Kenny Montgomery home.

Daniel Benally hit a double in the seventh inning for Tustin, but he was left at second base after Forest struck out Andrew Olsen for the final out.

Tyler Sundhu threw six innings for Tustin, struck out out three and gave up two earned runs.

“I’m very proud of these boys,” Owens said. “They did everything that we talked about at the beginning of the year. We talked about winning the league championship and we came close. But to make a deep run to the semifinals, our first one since 2000, that brings a lot of pride to this program and I couldn’t be happier.”