ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Sunday, April 10th, the Sonoma State baseball team held off Stanislaus State behind an 11-hit performance and some clutch relief pitching to win the series finale 8-4. On a couple extra days of rest, junior transfer Nick Roth would make his 5th start and 8th appearance for the Seawolves after coming off back-to-back 6 inning outings against Cal Poly Pomona and then SF State last week. 

1ST & 2ND INNING:

Roth would come out firing strikes in the top of the first and record the first out of the game via punch out. However, a 1-out error followed by a hard single into left field would prove costly as a Warriors run would eventually come across the plate off of a wild pitch. Roth would get out of the inning with just the 1 run but the SSU offense would back him up in the bottom half of the inning with an early run of their own. 

A 2-out laser from senior utility player Joshua Medina would rattle off the scoreboard in left center to tie the game up at one a piece. The solo shot for Medina would go down as his 5th of the season, good for second most on the team. Roth would record another strikeout in the 2nd as he sat down all three batters he would face for a clean inning. 

In the bottom of the 2nd, a leadoff walk would be the enemy for Stanislaus State as Josh Lopez would draw the 5-pitch free pass. After a hard hit ball from catcher Cole Brodnansky and a hit batter, the bases would become loaded with one out for senior shortstop Nick Simmons. Simmons would battle to a full count and then hit a chopper up the middle. Stanislaus State would get the force out at second but a throw in the dirt would allow Simmons to reach safely and score Lopez from third to give SSU a 2-1 lead.        

3RD INNING:

In the top of the third, Roth would work around a leadoff double and a 2-out walk as he got the Warriors batter to strikeout swinging to end the inning. The Seawolves would carry that momentum into the third as they finally broke out and put up a 3-spot to extend their lead to 5-2. Outfielder Desmond Gates would draw his team leading 19th walk to start things off and then tag up and get to second on a deep fly ball to center from fellow outfielder Torreahno Sweet. The fly ball was just deep enough and Gates would barrel into second head first to just get in under the tag and put himself in scoring position. 

A walk and another hit batter would load the bases again for the Seawolves offense as they looked to put up multiple runs in the inning. After falling behind in the count, Josh Lopez would fight off an inside pitch into the gap between first and second. The Warriors second baseman would dive to keep the ball in the infield but Lopez would reach with an RBI single as he scored Gates from third. Catcher Cole Brodnansky would then come to the plate and keep the train rolling as he ripped a 1-0 pitch into center field to score Medina from third. First baseman Christopher Wright would get a job done as he slapped a deep enough fly ball to left to get home freshman Jared Esparza as Wright picked up the sac fly and his 9th RBI of the season. Simmons would fly out to end the inning but not before head coach John Goelz and his squad would put up 3 runs in the inning and take a commanding 5-2 lead.   

6TH, 7TH, & 8TH INNING:

Roth would give up 2 doubles in the 4th to plate another Warrior run as they cut the lead down to two. Roth would finish the 4th inning and then exit as he would get a no decision. He finished with 4 innings of work allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and recording a season high 5 strikeouts in his outing. 

Sophomore right hander Tanner Ivey would come in and make his first appearance in a couple weeks after coming back from injury. Ivey would make his 7th appearance of the season and throw two innings giving up just 1 run on 1 hit in an efficient 27 pitches. With a thin bullpen late in the series, head coach John Goelz would make a bold move and go back to right hander Michael Benz would come in relief in game one of the series on Friday. Benz picked up the win in 4 innings of relief on Friday and looked to do the same today.       

In the bottom of the 6th, the long ball would be featured again as senior shortstop Nick Simmons would get into one and drive a solo shot out over the left field fence. Simmons barreled it up and just got enough height to send it over the left field fence for his first homer of the season. 

Sonoma State would slowly but consistently add to their lead as they grabbed another run in the 7th. Joshua Medina would leadoff the inning with a hard hit single to third base that stayed in the infield. After advancing to second on a wild pitch and then to third off of a Lopez ground out to the right side, Brodnansky would come up clutch again as he ripped a single to left field with two outs to score Medina. Brodnansky would pick up his 2nd RBI of the game and his 9th of the season. 

In their final at bats of the game, SSU would tack on one more insurance run in the 8th. Outfielder Brandon Herter would pinch hit and draw a walk to leadoff the inning. Two batters later Herter would steal second and put himself in scoring position for senior lefty Desmond Gates. After a grueling 6-pitch at bat and several foul balls, Gates would hit a hard ground ball up the middle to score the speedy Herter from second and give SSU a comfortable 8-4 lead as they headed into the 9th.

After Ivey exited the game back in the 6th, the move from Goelz would pay off as Benz threw two scoreless innings in the 7th and 8th and gave up just 1 hit to set the table for the 9th. With Joshua Medina in everyone's mind, it would instead be right hander sophomore Niko Tejada to take the mound.       

9TH INNING: 

Tejada had made two previous appearances but is more commonly known as a catcher and infielder for the Seawolves. A more comfortable 4-run lead though would allow Tejada to come in and get some more experience on the bump. Tejada would work around a leadoff walk and record his 3rd strikeout of the season and two fly outs to end the game and give the Seawolves the 8-4 series finale victory. 

Pauly, Medina, Brodnansky, and Lopez would all record multi-hit games for the Seawolves as Medina was a triple shy of the cycle. He would go 3-4 from the plate with a single, a double, a home run, 3 runs scored and an RBI. Cole Brodnansky and Nick Simmons would each record a pair of RBI's in the team's win as well. With Tanner Ivey coming in to pitch in the 5th and 6th inning and maintaining an SSU lead, he would pick up his first win of the season. 

The Seawolves improve to 13-20 overall and 10-14 in CCAA play after taking the series three games to one over Stanislaus State. Sonoma State will head down south to take on Cal State San Marcos on Thursday, April 14th at 3:00 PM. SSU currently sits in a tie for 6th place with Cal State East Bay in the CCAA standings as they look for another series win against the Cougars. 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