SAN MARCOS, CALIF. - On Saturday, April 15th, the Sonoma State baseball team took a crucial and wild doubleheader against the Cougars of Cal State San Marcos as they recorded a combined 37 runs off of 33 hits to defeat San Marcos 16-11 and then 21-10. We'll start this wild Saturday of CCAA baseball with game one of the days doubleheader. 

Game #1: SSU (16) vs. CSUSM (11)

After another quality outing and a no decision last week against Stanislaus State, freshman Blake Janowicz would get the start in game one of Saturday's doubleheader. Janowicz would get hit early though and exit the game after just 2.2 innings of work. He would surrender 7 hits and give up runs in each of the first three innings to put SSU in a five nothing hole early on. 

After beginning the season as a consistent starter for the Seawolves, junior right hander Michael Benz would make his 11th appearance out of the pen as he has settled in nicely as a lengthy arm in the middle of games to give SSU more depth throughout their bullpen. Benz would give up 3 runs in the fourth but hold the Cougars scoreless in the 5th and 6th inning. 

After 5 unanswered runs from San Marcos to start the game, the SSU offense would come alive and put up a combined 7 runs in the 4th 5th inning to make it a one run game. Power hitter Otis Statum would cash in with an RBI single to left, scoring Sean Pauly who led the inning off with a walk. Two batters later and with two runners on, junior outfielder Torreahno Sweet would snap his hitting slump with a momentous two RBI double to the right center gap. Joshua Medina, who singled earlier in the inning, and Statum would score to put Sonoma State on the board and make it 5-3. 

After surrendering three more runs in the bottom half of the 4th, head coach John Goelz and his squad would answer yet again with a four spot to bring the game to within one. Two walks would bring up one of the team's best hitters in Joshua Medina. Medina would deliver with an RBI double to right field to plate Lucas Townsend. Statum would come to the plate again in back-to-back innings and deliver another clutch RBI single to left to score Sean Pauly. A one out walk to Brodnansky would load the bases and bring up Torreahno Sweet. Sweet and Statum would cash in with RBI's in back-to-back innings as Sweet would beat out a double play ball to score a run and reach on a fielders choice. 

After battling through an injury in the team's previous series, outfielder Braeden Holliday would come in and pinch hit with runners on the corners and a chance to put the Seawolves within a run. Head coach John Goelz's move would pay dividends as Holliday singled to right to score Statum and make it an 8-7 game after five wild innings of action. 

The momentum would really swing in the 7th inning as the Seawolves would seize control and put away the Cougars with 7 runs off of 6 hits. After a leadoff strikeout, the next 7 Seawolf batters would reach base with three singles and two hit batters. With two runners on, senior shortstop Nick Simmons would single to the left side to score the speedy Sweet from second. After Townsend would get hit by a pitch to load the bases, freshman Jared Esparza would come in as a pinch hitter and single through the right side and score two more runs as Lopez would score from third and Simmons would get the green light from second. Three pitches later, outfielder Sean Pauly would continue his recent tear from the plate with another two RBI up the middle to score Townsend and Esparza. After a fly out to center, the Seawolves would bat around and get back to Cole Brodnansky who led off the inning with a grueling 9-pitch strikeout. Brodnansky would get some revenge as he capped off the inning with a big two out double down the left field line to score another pair of runs. The 7 run swing would put Sonoma State on top 15-8. Brodnansky would come up again and single through the left side for his 3rd RBI of the game in the 9th inning to help secure the Seawolves wild 16-11 win in game one. 

Game #2: SSU (21) vs. CSUSM (10)

In similar fashion to game one, San Marcos would jump out to an early and commanding lead as they recorded back-to-back three run innings in the 1st and 2nd to chase freshman star Jason Doktorczyk. Doktorczyk had been a rising star for the Seawolves but would fail to get out of the 2nd inning after giving up 6 runs on 6 hits. Sophomore right hander Hogan Weaver would come in to make his 10th appearance of the season and help stabilize the game as he went two innings giving up 3 runs off of just 3 hits. 

The 4th inning would go down as one for the ages for the Seawolves as they not only got themselves back in the game, but also recorded a massive 11 runs in a historic 2-out rally. That's correct, all 11 runs for SSU came with two outs in the inning to flip the game on its head and catapult themselves to the doubleheader sweep. 

Freshman Jared Esparza would pull a single through the right side after a 1-out walk from Josh Lopez to bring Christopher Wright to the plate with runners on first and second. The sophomore first baseman would shock everyone and come up with his first home run as a Seawolf as he blasted one to right field. The 3-run shot would energize the Seawolves bench as they would rattle off five straight hits and score another three runs. A 2-RBI double to center from Statum followed by an RBI single from Pauly would plate three runs and bring the Seawolves to within one run. 

Joshua Medina would earn himself the intentional walk before a pitching change for the Cougars. Lopez would then come up and battle to a 3-2 count before drawing another walk and loading the bases for Cole Brodnansky. Brodnansky would add to his RBI total on the day as he would come up with the go-ahead double to left center that would clear the bases and score Medina, Pauly, and Lopez all the way from first. Freshman Jared Esparza would then crush his 2nd home run of the season to right field to complete the 11-run onslaught and give SSU an 11-7 lead. 

The game would take another dramatic turn as San Marcos would answer with three combined runs in the bottom half of the 4th and 5th inning. After coming in to pitch part of the 4th inning, utility player Joshua Medina would exit the game at the start of the 6th and make way for junior transfer Tanner Fonoti. The hard throwing right hander would retire the Cougars in order with a ground out and back-to-back fly outs as they headed into the 7th and final inning.     

After San Marcos made it a one run game in the 5th, SSU would answer yet again with 3 runs in the 6th and 7 runs in the 7th to finally put away the Cougars once and for all. RBI's in the 7th would come from Josh Lopez, Ezele Wicks, Niko Tejada and Sean Pauly. Wicks would record his first hit and RBI in the last couple of weeks after resting on the bench and recovering from injury. Not only did the Seawolves have a historical day from the plate to earn themselves two come-from-behind wins, but they also saw great offensive production from their entire lineup as they had five different players record multiple hits in game one and two. Medina would lead the team with 6 combined hits on the day. SSU would also record multiple season highs including runs scored, total hits and team RBI's. The team's 21 runs scored is the most runs scored in a 7-inning game since 2002 against Hawaii Pacific where Goelz and his squad put up 23 runs against the Sharks. The 37 combined runs on the day goes down as the most combined runs in a doubleheader in over 20 years.  

Fonoti would finish game two with two scoreless innings of work but Hogan Weaver would earn his first win as a Seawolf after starting the 4th inning when SSU held an 11-7 lead. 

The Seawolves will look to put the finishing touches on a wild weekend in the series finale tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM. A win tomorrow would give them three straight and go down as back-to-back series victories dating back to their series win last weekend over Stanislaus State. The Seawolves improve to 15-21 overall and 12-15 in CCAA play. 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