ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Saturday, March 5th, the clouds and wind continued to roll into Sonoma County as the SSU baseball team split the day's doubleheader with CCAA opponent Monterey Bay. After a combined 25 run slug fest with 18 of those from the Otters in game one, freshman Jason Doktorczyk would take the mound in game two and hurl over 100 pitches to propel the Seawolves to their first conference win. 

DH #1: SSU (7) vs. CSUMB (18):

In game one of today's doubleheader at Seawolf Diamond, the junior out of Rodriguez HS Tanner Fonoti, would get his second start and make his third appearance of the season. Fonoti features one of the best fastballs on the team and compliments it with a tight slider and after making his first appearance as a reliever weeks ago, Fonoti slowly begins to make his way into the rotation for head coach John Goelz and the Seawolves. 

1ST INNING:

After a hit batter on the second pitch of the game, Fonoti would settle down to induce two ground outs and a fly out to get out of the first inning scoreless for the first time this series. Then, the bats finally awoke for the Seawolves early in the game as they would jump out and put a 4-spot in the bottom half to take an early lead. 

Desmond Gates would draw his team leading 11th walk to start off the inning and then Torreahno Sweet would wear a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs. After a big strikeout from the Otters starting pitcher, Braeden Holliday would smash a ground ball down the third base line. The Otters infielder would smother the ball but be unable to make a play, giving an infield hit to Holliday and allowing everyone to move up a base. With Monterey Bay's pitcher rattled early on, he would go on to walk Josh Lopez on four straight pitches for the game's first run. 

After a mound visit and another strikeout, catcher Cole Brodnansky would come to the dish looking to break it open with two down. On just the third pitch, Brodnansky would line a ball against the wind into the right-center gap that would clear the bases and make it a 4-0 SSU lead! Lopez would leg it around all the way from first base to score the team's 4th run. Nick Simmons would continue his hot bat at the dish as he simplified his approach and shot a ball through the right side in the very next at bat. With two outs and not much to lose, Seawolves third base coach Zack Pace would send Brodnansky from second but a perfect one hop from the right fielder would make him out on a bang-bang play. Despite the out, the damage was done as the Seawolves led 4-0 after one. 

TOP 4TH:

Fonoti would work around a leadoff error in the second to only allow one run and then give up a solo shot as his only mistake in the third to bring the Otters to within two runs. The game would then get turned on its head in the fourth as the Otters were able to put up an 8-spot and shock the Seawolves into a     8-4 deficit. Back-to-back hits for Monterey Bay and a walk would load the bases with one out. Then after a visit from coach Goelz, Fonoti would battle his way to a 6-pitch strikeout to give SSU two down and a chance to get out of the jam. Unfortunately, a smart pinch hit from the Otters head coach would result in an RBI single to right field that would plate one, and then Fonoti would lose control a bit and plunk the next batter on the second pitch to force in another run. 

Fonoti would exit the game after 3.2 innings of work allowing 4 hits and recording a game high 5 strikeouts. The damage was not done though as sophomore Tanner Ivey would come in and give up four straight hits including a 2-RBI triple to left center field. On the triple, left fielder Desmond Gates and center fielder Torreahno Sweet collided as both made an attempt at the fly ball, forcing Sweet out of the game. Thankfully, Sweet would leave under his own power and is reported to be in good condition. After the collision, head coach John Goelz would decide to pull the plug on Ivey and hand the ball to fellow sophomore Colton Peters. Ezele Wicks would also replace Sweet in the outfield. Four pitches later, Peters induced a ground ball to first to end the inning. Peters was able to throw strikes and exit the game with a season high 3.1 innings pitched and give up just two runs as he stabilized the game for the next few innings.  

FINAL SSU (7) vs. CSUMB (18):

After back-to-back hits from Christopher Wright and Josh Lopez and an Otter error, the Seawolves would get two back in the 7th, but not before Monterey would put up another lopsided number in the top of the 8th. A 6-run 8th on 5 hits would put the game to bed as Monterey would win by a final score of 18-7. Sonoma State would record their 6th game with double digit hits as they set a new season high with 14. Ezele Wicks would come in relief for Sweet and go 2-3 from the dish. Josh Lopez and Nick Simmons were the other multi-hit Seawolfs as they combined for 5 hits in the contest. Lopez was also responsible for 4 of the team's 7 runs as he scored 3 and batted in 1. 
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DH #2: SSU (3) vs. CSUMB (1):

The Seawolves would quickly forget about game one as game two saw a quick, low scoring affair and a dominant pitching performance from freshman Jason Doktorczyk. He would make his 5th appearance and 2nd start of the season in today's second game of the two and throw an absolute gem. Doktorczyk would give up just one run in the first and never look back. 3 hits and 1 run would complete the first inning as Doktorczyk would pick off the Otter base runner on first to end the threat. 

TOP 2ND: 

Back-to-back singles and a walk would load the bases for Monterey in the top of the 2nd and with only one out, Doktorczyk had some work to do to keep it a one run game. Doktorczyk would jam the next Otters batter on the hands and get a shallow fly ball out to left, not deep enough for runners to tag. Then with two outs, he would battle through a five pitch at bat and get the batter to strikeout swinging to end the threat as the Seawolves bench erupted for Doktorczyk. 

BOTTOM 4TH:

After a 1-2-3 inning and another strikeout in the top half of the 4th, Sonoma State's offense would finally strike off of a solo shot from none other than, veteran infielder Joshua Medina. Medina would jump on a second pitch breaking ball and send a deep shot to just underneath the scoreboard in left center for his team leading 4th homer of the season. With some quality starting pitching and clean defense, the Seawolves felt well in the game and saw their first conference win in sight. 

BOTTOM 5TH AND 6TH:

Some clutch two out hitting in which the Otters had in all of games one and two would finally come SSU's way as veteran outfielder Desmond Gates would cash in with a runner on third and two outs and slap a hard ground ball back up the middle to give SSU a 2-1 lead in the 5th. Logan Douglas would scamper home after being hit by a pitch earlier that inning. 

After another 1-2-3 inning from Doktorczyk, the Seawolves would come up to the plate one last time looking for some insurance as they held a 2-1 lead. A leadoff single from Joshua Medina would continue his solid day and put the leadoff man on with no outs. Back-to-back fly ball outs would bring Christopher Wright to the plate. On the second pitch, Medina very smartly stole second on a delayed steal that caught the Otters catcher by surprise. Medina would put himself in scoring position with two outs. After advancing to third pitches later on a wild pitch, Wright would grind out his at bat to six pitches where he would slap a slow roller to shortstop. Forcing the Otter defense to make a play, the shortstop would bobble the slow roller and the hustling Wright would reach first and force a run in. A pinch runner would get picked off in the middle of the next at bat to end the inning, but not before SSU added to their lead as they entered the 7th up 3-1 looking for their first conference win. 

FINAL SSU (3) vs. CSUMB (1):

Jason Doktorczyk would get the ball to start the 7th looking for his first career complete game. A 7-pitch affair would result in a nasty swinging strikeout to energize the crowd and retire the leadoff batter. Doktorczyk would throw nothing but strikes to the Otters pinch hitter in the next at bat and record his 5th strikeout of the game. However, a passed ball on the swinging third strike would allow the batter to reach first as catcher Niko Tejada couldn't make a play. With the tying run coming to the plate, head coach John Goelz would make a crucial decision and choose to exit Doktorczyk and bring in utility player Joshua Medina for the save opportunity. A questionable decision in the moment, turned into a game winning move as Medina got the next Monterey Batter to foul out to catcher Cole Brodnansky who took over for Tejada as he went out to play second base. Two pitches later, Medina would induce a fly ball out to center field to end the game and record his first save of the season! The Seawolves would hang on for the 3-1 victory just before dark and record their first CCAA victory of the 2022 season. 

Freshman Jason Doktorczyk was simply spectacular. After the first inning, he threw 4.1 scoreless innings and finished the day with 5 strikeouts on a season high 109 pitches and just one walk. Medina did it all today and was the Seawolves offensive MVP as he went 2-3 from the plate, scoring 2 runs and hitting a solo shot to help produce all 3 off the team's runs in the victory. Desmond Gates's two out RBI single up the middle back in the 5th would prove to be the game winning run in the 7-inning affair. 

SSU now improves to 4-12 overall and 1-6 in CCAA play. The Seawolves will return to action tomorrow morning as they conclude their four game set with the Otters at 11:00 AM at Seawolf Diamond. Live stats and stream links can be found at sonomaseawolves.com and all games can be streamed live 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