ROHNERT PARK, Calif- One day after
Mark Pestorich hit a walk off grand slam to win a game,
Trevor Howell decided to get in on the act, knocking a two-run walk off homer to right center to give Sonoma State a 9-7 come-from-behind win over Cal State Dominguez Hills. With the victory, the Seawolves will enter next week's CCAA Championship Tournament as the No. 1 seed with a record of 42-12, 26-8 CCAA. The Toros see their season end at 21-34, 16-20 CCAA.
The seeding the for CCAA Tournament will be set at the conclusion of today's action. Sonoma State and UC San Diego are already locked in as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. Wins by Chico State (3) and Cal State Stanislaus (4) today will lock up bids for those teams as well. The Seawolves will play the No. 4 seed with UC San Diego playing the No. 3 seed. The site of the tournament will also be announced soon.
The Seawolves got out to a 2-1 lead in Sunday's game when
Tyrese McDaniel and
Vance Otake hit solo home runs in the first and second innings. The lead would not last long as the Toros rallied for four runs against SSU starter
Rashad Tucker in the third. CSUDH got five singles in the inning, including the big blast, a two-run single to center by Canelario Flores.
The teams traded runs in the fifth and sixth before the Seawolves, down 6-3, started their comeback with two in the seventh to pull within one. The Seawolves took a 7-6 lead in the eighth inning when
Konrad Thieme laced an RBI double and
Kris Haycock single home a run. Again, however, the lead was short-lasted as Flores came up with a clutch two-out run-scoring single to tie things at seven in the ninth.
In the ninth inning, McDaniel hit a single up the middle to set the stage for Howell's heroic blast. It was the ninth home run of the season for Howell.
John Bonifacini picked up the win in relief for Sonoma State. Nosti, McDaniel, Otake, and
David Adler each had two hits in the 12-hit attack.
Matt Garnett was solid in a five-inning relief stint, allowing just one run and striking out four.
Flores had three hits to lead the Toros. CSUDH pounded out 15 hits in the game, all but two of them singles. Bret Montgomery was charged with the loss after giving up four runs in 1.1 innings of relief work.
Stay tuned to sonomaseawolves.com for playoff information.