SAN MARCOS, CALIF. - On Saturday, April 16th, the Sonoma State baseball team concluded a wild weekend of CCAA baseball with another lopsided win as they took down the Cougars of Cal State San Marcos 14-7 giving them back-to-back series victories. Some clean defense, deep relief pitching and clutch offense throughout the entire lineup would be the theme in the final three games of the series. SSU only committed two errors in the final three games and outscored the Cougars 51-28 to record one of their most dominant offensive performances in a series in the last 20 years of the program. 

One of the most common trends this series was SSU falling behind early, having to lengthen their bullpen and get some big offensive innings to climb back into the game. Once again, the Seawolves would surrender two runs in the bottom half of the 2nd to surrender an early lead. Junior transfer Nick Roth would get his 6th start and make his 9th appearance of the season. Roth has moved into a solid opener role, bolstering the front and back of the Seawolves rotation and is able to pound the strike zone and induce contact outs. Despite giving up a season high 11 hits, Roth would grind through four innings of work and exit the game with SSU only down two runs. With a thin bullpen on both sides due to the football-like scores on the weekend, head coach John Goelz would turn to sophomore utility player Niko Tejada who would make his 4th appearance of the season. Roth would start the 5th inning but load the bases before departing for Tejada. Only two runs would come across home plate as Tejada would induce a ground out, a fly out, and then make an incredible diving catch off the mound on a popped up bunt to get out of the jam. 

A 2-RBI double from Joshua Medina back in the third would put Sonoma State on the board and then a sac fly from Medina with the bases loaded in the 5th would give the Seawolves their third run of the game. After getting out of the bases loaded jam in the bottom of the 5th, SSU would only trail 5-3 as they were poised for another big inning, seeking the series victory. 

The momentous diving catch from Tejada and getting out of the 5th inning would provide a huge spark for the Seawolves offense as Goelz and his squad would put up 8 runs in the top half of the 6th to a commanding lead once again and propel themselves to the series finale victory. A leadoff homer from first baseman Christopher Wright would go down as his second of the season and his second on the weekend as SSU started the 6th with a bang. SSU would proceed to get five straight batters to reach base safely and score a run off of a Cougars throwing error and then score two more on back-to-back RBI hits. An RBI single from Otis Statum and an RBI double from Sean Pauly would bring two Seawolves across and give SSU an 8-5 lead. Two batters later, Josh Lopez would single through the right side to score Pauly from third to extend their lead to 9-5. The final blow would come from senior short stop Nick Simmons who would rip a 2-0 pitch through the left side to plate two more runs and complete the 8-run 6th inning. 

Catcher Cole Brodnansky would help put on some finishing touches in the 8th inning as he blasted his first home run of the season to left center. A lead off single from lefty Lopez would make it a 2-run shot and give Brodnansky his first hit of the game. Sophomore right hander Tanner Ivey would make his second appearance in back-to-back to weeks after coming back from injury. Ivey would come in relief for Tejada in the 7th and record a scoreless 7th inning as he struck out a batter and retired the Cougars in order. Junior Tanner Fonoti would make his 9th appearance of the season and finish the game in the 8th and 9th inning. He would give up two runs in the 9th but strikeout two as well to maintain the Seawolves lead and secure the series victory. A leadoff solo shot from power hitter Otis Statum would seal the deal in the 9th as Statum blasted his 5th of the season good for second most on the team.  

A wild and historic weekend series would finally conclude with a 14-7 victory as head coach John Goelz and his squad continue to climb the conference standings with back-to-back series wins. The best part of the weekend certainly had to be the wide range of offensive depth as several Seawolves broke out of slumps while others recorded season highs in hits and RBI's. SSU's offense would combine for 52 hits in the series as they have now won 6 of their last 8 games. Five different Seawolves would record multiple hits in the series finale as Josh Lopez led the way with three hits, an RBI, and two runs scored. Catcher Lucas Townsend recorded a new season high as he went 2-4 from the dish and also scored 3 runs in the contest. After recording just one hit in their series against Stanislaus State last weekend, Otis Statum would break out of his mini-slump in a big way as he recorded 5 hits in the series including a home run and 6 RBI's, a series high for Statum this season. Despite just four appearances on the mound this season, Niko Tejada has had great success and now owns a 1.80 ERA and recorded his first win of the season as he got credit for the win today for his two innings of scoreless work back in the 5th and 6th.

The Seawolves improve to 16-21 overall and 13-15 in CCAA play after taking the series three games to one over Cal State San Marcos. SSU will return home to Seawolf Diamond next week on Friday, April 22nd at 2:00 PM as they take on Cal State LA. 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