San Marcos, Calif. - Beginning a road series in southern California, the Sonoma State Seawolves looked to keep pace with both CSU Monterey Bay and Chico State in the CCAA North Division race. However, the Seawolves lost leads in both games against the CSU San Marcos Cougars, dropping both games of their Saturday doubleheader in the process.
Game 1 - CSU San Marcos 9, Sonoma State 7
In the opener, Sonoma State got out to a 4-0 lead and fought off a mid-game Cougar rally to take the lead going into the eigth inning, only to see a couple of San Marcos home runs turn the tides and push the Cougars to victory.
Down 5-4 in the sixth,
Adam Manzer drew a bases loaded walk to tie things up for the Seawolves. In the top of the 7th inning,
Grant St. Martin hit a solo home run to right-center field to put Sonoma State ahead, with Manzer hitting his own solo shot in the eighth to make it 7-5, Sonoma State.
But San Marcos, who battled back from the early deficit, had enough firepower to do it again, as two-run homers from Clinton Perez and Jon Putnam in the eighth inning gave the Cougars the lead for good.
The slugfest featured 10 Seawolf hits, including the aforementioned home runs, a triple by
Matthew Richards and a double from
Daniel Caresio. Manzer had a tremendous game, going 3-for-4 with a walk, three RBI and two runs scored.
Ryan O'Malley reached base four times going 2-for-4 with two walks and an RBI. Caresio also drew two walks, as the Seawolves had a season-best 10 free passes taken.
Game 2 - CSU San Marcos 7, Sonoma State 5
The second game was similar to the first, with the Seawolves holding a 5-4 lead late in the ballgame, but the Cougars put together a three-run seventh inning to hold off Sonoma State and set up a sweep scenario for Sunday.
With the bases loaded and one out, Brandon Bentson singled to right off
Cody Bennett to tie the game. Bennett struck out Putnam for the second out, but then lost his control on the next two batters, as Austin Ott and Hudson Bilodeau both drew walks to bring home a run, giving the Cougars the lead for good.
Sonoma State had battled back from a 4-2 deficit to take the lead earlier, as the team scored twice in the fourth to tie things thanks to and RBI groundout by
Jared English and
Bryant Cid coming home on a passed ball. The Seawolves took the lead in the sixth on a
Rayson Romero fielder's choice that plated Cid.
Romero, Cid and St. Martin each had two hits, with Romero adding an RBI and Cid scoring twice. The Seawolves didn't have an extra base hit in the game, but seven of nine starters had at least one hit.
Up Next: Sonoma State will look to avoid the sweep on Sunday when they take on the Cougars in the series finale. First pitch is set for 11 a.m.
