ROHNERT PARK, Calif-  Mark Pestorich hit a walk-off grand slam in game two to lead Sonoma State to a doubleheader sweep of Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday afternoon at Seawolf Diamond.  The blast capped a seven-run comeback in the 10-8 win for the Seawolves, who also won in the opener, 4-1.  The Seawolves improve to 41-12, 25-8 CCAA and keep their grip on first place in the conference standings.  The Toros fall to 21-33, 16-19 CCAA.

The Seawolves entered Saturday's doubleheader in first place in the CCAA by percentage points over UC San Diego.  If SSU wins Sunday's game, they'll enter next weekend's conference tournament as the No. 1 seed.  The site of the tournament has not been announced yet, but in addition to the Seawolves and Tritons, Chico State, Cal State Stanislaus, and Cal State L.A. are in the mix for the final two spots.

Riding a season-long five game losing streak, the Seawolves needed a star performance and they got just that in the opener.  Gary Moran was lights out for SSU, striking out seven and allowing just two hits in 6 2/3 innings, before being knocked out with a minor hand injury . He got the win to improve to 7-2 on the season.  Nick O'Brien picked up right where Moran left off, allowing no hits in 2 1/3 innings for his second save. 

The Seawolves got on the board in the first inning when Derek Harms popped a solo home run to left field.  A Trevor Howell solo homer to left center led off the third and gave the Seawolf pitching staff all the run support they'd need.  Harms also had an RBI double in the eighth and Nick Nosti delivered a sacrifice fly.

Harms finished game one with two hits and two RBIs.  Carlos Leyva had both of the Toros' hits. 

Game two saw the Toros get out to an early 3-0 lead when Leyva knocked in a run with a single before Cody Puckett launched a two-run homer to right center.  CSUDH picked up another run in the fourth, then turned to Puckett once more in the fifth for his second homer of the game (and CCAA-high 17th of the season). 

Trailing 6-0, the Seawolves finally got their bats going.  SSU picked up one run on a Ryan Averkieff RBI single in the fifth, then scored two on an Ian Bridges double.  In the sixth inning, Dave Herman and Kris Haycock knocked in runs to pull within one at 6-5.  CSUDH would tack on a run in the top of the seventh when Daniel Hartman scooted home on a wild pitch.

In the bottom of the seventh, CSUDH's Danny Torres retired the first batter he faced on a simple ground out.  That would be the last batter he'd retire.  After Bridges singled and Konrad Thieme doubled to the gap in right center, Derek Harms worked a walk to load the bases for Pestorich.  After taking a ball, Pestorich smashed the ball to deep left center to clear the bases and complete the incredible comeback win. 

Tyler Fockler picked up the win in relief for the Seawolves as he improves to 2-2.  Torres was handed the loss.  Averkieff, Bridges, and Pestorich all had a pair of hits for Sonoma State.  Carlos Leyva had three hits for CSUDH and Cody Puckett drove in four.

The teams will wrap up the regular season tomorrow with a single game at 11:00 am.

Game One Box
Game Two Box