ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Saturday, February 5th, the Sonoma State baseball team made their home opener at Seawolf Diamond as they concluded their three game series with the Hawks of Holy Names. After a walk-off win from the Hawks in a four hour affair the night prior, the Seawolves salvaged a split in today's double header as they won the second game 5-4. Sonoma State dropped the first game today 7-2 after giving up a 5-run sixth inning. 

Game #1 Holy Names vs. Sonoma State - L 2-7

After using five pitchers in last nights game, head coach John Goelz gave the junior right handed pitcher Michael Benz the start. Benz brings a unique style to the mound with a bit of a sidearm delivery. Benz was able to throw two scoreless innings before running into some trouble in the third. A hit batter and an RBI double would get the Hawks on the board. An RBI groundout from the next batter would give Holy Names an early 2-0 lead. Benz would get out of the inning after inducing a pop out and strikeout to end the threat. 

Benz would start the fourth by giving up back-to-back singles to Holy Names. With his start looking like it was coming to an end, Benz was able to strike out the next batter looking and induce a fly out to keep the runners on first and second before exiting for freshman Jared Esparza. Esparza would get the fly out to end the threat as the Seawolves headed into the bottom half of the fourth looking to get something going. 

Veteran infielder Joshua Medina would lead off the bottom of the fourth with a triple shot out to the right center gap. Medina would leg it out to third and put SSU in the driver seat for a big inning. Two batters later, Christopher Wright would trade places with Medina with a triple of his own  down the right field line. Braeden Holiday would follow with a sac fly to shallow right field to tie the game up at two. Wright seemed to surprise the Hawks defense as the ball was well in range of making a play at the plate but the Holy Names right fielder would not come up throwing right away and Wright would come in standing. 

After getting through the fifth, Jared Esparza would get into some trouble in the sixth where he would surrender 3 earned runs on a bases loaded walk and a 2-RBI single to make it 2-5. Senior right hander Sir Gomez would come in relief and give up two runs of his own on an unfortunate infield error. SSU would get out of the inning surrendering 5 runs and going down 2-7. Sonoma State would get shutout the next three innings and drop game #1 of the doubleheader 2-7 and fall to 0-2 on the season. Joshua Medina finished the game 2-4 and Braeden Holiday finished with a productive 2-2 from the plate with an RBI and a walk.    

Game #2 Holy Names vs. Sonoma State - W 5-4

Things would finally swing the Seawolves way after a tough late loss Friday night and an opening loss today after a 5-run sixth inning. After going 0-4 from the dish in game #1, outfielder Desmond Gates would slice a ball into the left center gap and slide head first into second base for the leadoff double. Brandon Herter would follow up with a hard hit ball through the left side to make it first and third with no outs for the Seawolves. Head coach John Goelz would allow Herter to be aggressive on the base paths as he stole second later that next at bat. A walk to Joshua Medina would load the bases for Braeden Holliday. Holliday would not disappoint as he would get into one and smash the pitch deep over the left field fence for the grand slam giving SSU a commanding 4-0 lead. 

Holy Names would answer in the top half of the second in a big way with two home runs of their own. With little wind out at Seawolf Diamond, the field played much smaller than normal and both teams certainly took advantage of that. After a lead off double and then a strikeout from SSU pitcher and starter Blake Janowicz, the Hawks would hit back-to-back home runs, a two run shot and a solo shot to follow, to get them right back into the game making it 4-3. After a mound visit from coach Goelz, Janowicz would calm his nerves and get a fly out and a strikeout to get out of the inning. 

Braeden Holiday would start the third inning off with a hard hit single to left field. After a fielder's choice and a strike out, Holy Names would commit an error on a  ground ball hit by Logan Douglas and with two outs, Holiday was running hard the whole way and he was able to come around and score from second to extend SSU's lead, 5-3. After going three innings surrendering 3 runs on 6 hits, Janowicz would exit and make way for freshman Jason Doktorczyk. The freshman would come up big for the Seawolves as he got in and out of jams and willed his way through four innings of action and picked up his first win of the season as Sonoma State held off the Hawks 5-4 to get their first win of the season. 

After recording back-to-back strikeouts to start the sixth, Doktorczyk would run into some trouble and give up a towering solo shot to right field to make it just a one run game. As he gathered his nerves, Doktorczyk would come back and get a huge punch out to end the inning and give himself a chance to close it out in the seventh. Holy Names would throw in two pinch hitters in the top half of the seventh and after a one out single, Doktorczyk would induce a hard hit ground ball into the 5/6 hole where senior shortstop Nick Simmons would make a smooth, lunging back handed play and get the lead runner out at second. A batter's interference on a steal attempt in the very next at bat would force the third out and end the game.           

Desmond Gates was much more effective in game two as he went 1-2 with a run scored and drew two walks on the day. Brandon Herter and Braeden HoLliday were the big performers for the Seawolves as they combined for 4 RBI's, 3 runs scored, and 4 hits in game two's win. Jason Doktorczyk would carry the team late, giving up just one run in four innings of work. He would also record a season high 7 strikeouts with no walks to help get SSU's first win of the season. 

Sonoma State improves to 1-2 after splitting today's double header. The Seawolves will return to action on February 11th as they start a three game series with Academy of Art. Live stats and stream links can be found at sonomaseawolves.com and all games can be streamed on the CCAA Network. Be sure to follow your Seawolves on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get all the latest SSU athletics updates and information. Sonoma State athletics also has launched a new fan app in partnership with From Now On. Download the free app today in both the Apple and Google Play stores by searching Sonoma State Seawolves in the app store. @SonomaSeawolves | #NomaNation