CARSON, CALIF. – On Friday, April 29th, the Sonoma State baseball team began a four-game set with the Toros of Cal State Dominguez Hills. The Toros sit just one spot ahead of the Seawolves in the conference standings, in 5th place, as SSU continues to fight for a postseason spot and make the tournament for the first time since 2014. Despite winning 15 of their last 24 games and winning their last three conference series over Stanislaus State, Cal State San Marcos, and Cal State LA, SSU would come up short in game one as the Toros topped the Seawolves 7-4.
Former USF Don and junior right hander
Nick Roth would make his 8th start on the mound for SSU this season as he has been in solid form and owns the second lowest ERA on the team at 3.40. Roth would record two strikeouts in the first two innings before running into some trouble in the third.
Outfielder
Torreahno Sweet would get the Seawolves on the board first in the third inning with an RBI single up the middle to score senior short stop
Nick Simmons. Simmons would double to lead off the inning and then move to third on a sac bunt from infielder
Logan Douglas. The lead would be short-lived though as Roth would give up a 2-run homer in the bottom half of the inning to surrender the lead.
Seawolves starter
Nick Roth would load the bases in the fourth as the Toros batter came up with a clutch 2-out single to right field that would score two runs and extend their lead to 4-1. Roth would walk the next batter to reload the bases but get the next batter to strikeout swinging in a grueling 7-pitch battle.
Sonoma State's offense would show some well needed life in the 5th, and
Torreahno Sweet would be the guy to bring it. After a leadoff single from Douglas to start the inning, Sweet would belt a 2-1 pitch to deep right field as he watched his ball sore over the fence for his first home run of his SSU career. Sweet's 2-run shot would make it a 4-3 ball game. The Seawolves weren't done yet though as a sac fly from senior infielder
Joshua Medina would score
Otis Statum from third to tie up the game at four a piece. Statum singled up the middle to keep the inning going after Sweet's 2-run homer. An RBI double would force Roth out of the game in the bottom half of the 5th as he would make way for right hander
Colton Peters. Peters would record a strikeout to end the threat as the Seawolves trailed 5-4 after five full innings.
SSU would start to lose grip of the game as they would surrender two more runs in the 6th and then a game defining 3-run homer in the 8th to give the Toros firm control of the contest and possess a 10-4 lead heading into the 9th. Head coach
John Goelz would ride Peters the rest of the way in efforts to save their bullpen for the remainder of the series. Sweet would have a career day with his first homer of the season and record his second multi-RBI game in his last three appearances.
Cole Brodnansky and
Logan Douglas would each tack on two hits and a double from each in the contest as well.
The Seawolves fall to 19-23 overall and 16-17 in CCAA play after dropping the series opener to Cal State Dominguez Hills. Games two and three of the series will happen tomorrow afternoon at 12/3:00 PM as SSU looks to keep their postseason hopes alive. 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
