Rohnert Park, Calif. - Holding only a half game lead over both Chico State and Cal State Monterey Bay in the CCAA North Division standings heading into Monday, the Seawolves hosted the Otters in a makeup doubleheader with heavy implications. While the Seawolves received some outstanding pitching in both games, the Otters got just enough offense to pull away with a sweep to take over first place.
Game 1 - CSU Monterey Bay 2, Sonoma State 1
Matt Hammonds was terrific for 7 1/3 innings, but a leadoff walk in the eighth proved to be just what the Otters needed, as a two-out RBI infield single by Brian Bostjancic allowed the Otters to escape with the win.
In his longest outing of the season, Hammonds kept the high-powered Otter offense at bay, allowing only four hits and a walk while striking out a season best seven. In the first inning, things weren't looking good for the left as Will Rosado led things off with a double, with Kevin Davidson bringing him hom to make it a 1-0 lead for Monterey Bay.
The Seawolves answered right back in the second in a peculiar manner. After
Adam Manzer singled with one out, he advanced to second on a groundout by
Bryant Cid. Then Otter starter Jared Koenig got a ltitle wild, throwing two wild pitches during
Trevor Abrams' at-bat to bring Manzer home and tie the game.
From there, Hammonds would settle down, getting into a groove where he retired 15 consecutive batters in a row. Then after the walk to Ruben Gonzalez, Hammonds struck out Matt Urakami, which brought in
Cody Bennett to take over for Hammonds after his best start in 2016.
Bennett then committed a balk to move Gonzalez to second, who then moved to third on a groundout, which set the stage for Bostjancic to give the Otters the lead for good. Kyle Narahara pitched the ninth inning for his seventh save, getting
Ryan O'Malley to line out to end the game.
Cid went 1-for-1 with a stolen base and a walk to lead the Seawolf offense, who could manage only five hits against Koenig on the day.
Game 2 - CSU Monterey Bay 3, Sonoma State 1
In the doubleheader finale, the Otters got the go-ahead run in the third and got an exclamation point of an insurance run on a solo homer by Rosado to take a 1 1/2 game lead over the Seawolves in the North Division standings.
After
Cody Morris followed a triple to right by scoring on a wild pitch to tie the game at 1-1 in the second, the second such occurrence of the day for Sonoma State, Monterey Bay got an RBI groundout from Justin Flores to give them the lead for good.
Outside of those two runs,
Cal Becker was very good, allowing only two runs on three hits with eight strikeouts. He walked two and hit three batters. Like Hammonds, it was his longest outing of the season.
Ricky Clark relieved Becker with three good innings himself, including six strikeouts, with the only blemish the solo home run to Rosado.
With the two victories, Sonoma State now falls back into third place behind the Otters and Wildcats, with two more games to go against Monterey Bay and a four game series against Chico State to come.
UP NEXT: The Seawolves will travel south to take on Cal State San Marcos for a three game series, beginning with a doubleheader this Saturday, April 16.
