SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. - On Saturday and Sunday, April 2nd and 3rd, the Sonoma State baseball team concluded their series against bay area rival SF State. The Seawolves dropped Saturday's doubleheader in back-to-back 1-run losses. 

SAT. GAME ONE: SSU (3) vs. SF State (4)

After scoring all 3 of their runs in the 7th and 8th inning in game one of Saturday's doubleheader, the Seawolves failed to rally in the 9th and fell 4-3. Right hander Vito Rodin got his first start of the season and made his 7th appearance in the contest as head coach John Goelz tried to piece together the game with several bullpen arms. Colton Peters and Hogan Weaver made their 5th and 8th appearances of the season as they came in relief. Tanner Kane would also make his season debut for the Seawolves and pitch 2 scoreless innings in the 7th and 8th to give SSU a chance in the 9th. An RBI single from freshman Jared Esparza in the 7th and a 2-run blast from Braeden Holliday in the 8th would go down as the team's 3 runs in the game. Holliday maintains his outright homerun team lead with 7 now on the season. 

SAT. GAME TWO: SSU (4) vs. SF State (5) - 10 Inn.

In game two of Saturday's doubleheader, the Seawolves would flip flop and score early as they put up a 3-spot in the 1st inning. A 2-RBI double from Joshua Medina would plate Desmond Gates and Torreahno Sweet. Medina came back with some vengeance as he flew out with runners and a chance to tie the game in the 9th in the previous game. With the bases loaded after two more walked batters, infielder Logan Douglas would get hit by a pitch to bring in Medina from third and give SSU a 3-0 lead. Two innings later Nick Simmons would hit a sac fly to center to score Holliday from third and give SSU a 4-2 lead. The Gators would claw back into the game though 2 clutch runs in the bottom of the 7th to tie the game and force extras. 

Freshman stud Jason Doktorczyk would make his 5th start of the season and go 6 strong. However, he would get charged with all 4 runs from SF State as he departed in the start of the 7th after giving up back-to-back singles to start the inning. Veteran utility player Joshua Medina would come in and make his 5th appearance on the mound for the Seawolves this season. After the Gators tied it up in the 7th, Medina would pitch two scoreless innings in the 8th and 9th. However, SF would finally break through in the 10th with a run scored on a bases loaded wild pitch. A leadoff double would set the table for the Gators. After intentionally walking the next batter to create a double play situation, the next batter would single to left field but Braeden Holliday would come up throwing with the game on the line and gun down the SF State runner at the plate to keep the game tied. A wild pitch the next at-bat would end the game and give SF State the thrilling 10-inning victory, 5-4. 

SUNDAY: SSU (7) vs. SF State (3)

In the series finale the Seawolves would come from behind after being down 2-1 through 3 innings. A 3-run 6th and 9th would produce a commanding lead and 6 strong innings of relief from junior right hander Tanner Fonoti would give him his second win of the season as Sonoma State took the finale 7-3.      

A leadoff double from outfielder Braeden Holliday to start the 2nd inning would set the table for the Seawolves. Back-to-back deep fly ball outs would advance Holliday to third and then score him on a sac fly from power hitter Otis Statum. Freshman Blake Janowicz would make his 8th start of the season as he has put together several productive starts to begin his Seawolf career. Janowicz would get hit early but get out of 3 innings with just 2 runs given up. Fonoti would then take over as the effective 1-2 punch for the Seawolves has been a nice combination over their last two series. 

After producing just 1 run through 5 innings, the Seawolves offense would finally come alive as they would hang a 3-spot to retake the lead in the 6th inning. After back-to-back hits to start the inning, Ezele Wicks would ground out to second to score Nick Simmons and advance Logan Douglas to third. Electric freshman Sean Pauly would then come to the dish and rip an RBI triple to center field to score Douglas easily from third. Two batters later, lefty senior Desmond Gates would pull a double down the right field line to score Pauly and give the Seawolves a 4-2 lead in the team's 3-run 6th. Fonoti would strikeout two batters in the 7th and retire 6 of 7 batters faced between the 6th and 7th innings. 

After the Gators grabbed a run back in the bottom of the 6th, Sonoma State would extend their lead and give Fonoti some breathing room after producing another 3-run inning in the 9th. Three straight singles including two bunt singles would load the bases with no outs and bring Cole Brodnansky to the plate. Brodnansky would get stung by a 2-2 pitch and score Gates from third as everyone moved up a base. Nick Simmons would come up clutch once again with his second hit of the game. A 2-RBI single back up the middle would score pinch-runner Ryan Wilmoth and Josh Lopez to give SSU a 4-run advantage heading into the bottom of the 9th.   

Fonoti would retire 3 of the 4 batters faced in the 9th and record his 6th strikeout of the game to give SSU the series split in a 7-3 victory. The early move to the pen from head coach John Goelz proved effective as Fonoti dominated in a season high 6 innings of work giving up just 1 run on 4 hits and striking out a season high 6 batters. Fonoti has only gotten better with time as his innings pitched per outing has increased each and every weekend. The Seawolves offense came alive late and put together 11 hits in the contest with three players recording multi-hit games. Nick Simmons would finish 2-4 with a 2-RBI single in the 9th. Desmond Gated and Otis Statum would combine to go 4-6 from the plate while Gates also added a run scored and an RBI. 

The Seawolves improve to 10-19 overall and 7-13 in CCAA play after their third straight series split with the Gators. SSU will return home to Seawolf Diamond on Friday April 8th to take on Stanislaus State at 2:00 PM. 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