CARSON, CALIF. – On Saturday, April 30th, the Sonoma State baseball team earned a well needed split after winning game two of Saturday's doubleheader 7-3. The Seawolves would drop game one in a slug fest 10-7 as the Toros got to starting pitcher
Blake Janowicz early and would go on to record three 3-run innings in the contest.
Game 1:
2ND INNING:
After giving up three runs in the bottom of the first, the Seawolves offense would bounce back and record three straight singles to start the inning. Outfielder
Torreahno Sweet would continue his series success and hit an RBI single up the middle to score
Cole Brodnansky from second. Brodnansky led the inning off with a single to left field. A single from
Nick Simmons would load the bases and allow third baseman
Logan Douglas to come to the plate and ground out to third to score
Christopher Wright and bring the Seawolves to within one. With two outs, sophomore
Sean Pauly would continue his productive streak and single up the middle. With two outs Simmons and Sweet would be running on contact and both would come across to score off of Pauly's single and take a 4-3 lead.
An RBI double and an error would force Janowicz out of the game in the bottom half of the second and allow the Toros to retake the lead, 6-4. Freshman
Ross Goldschlag would come in and make his 8th appearance of the season and record back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.
6TH INNING:
Goldschlag would finish the second inning but fail to make it out of the third as the Toros would extend their lead to 7-4. Senior right hander
Sir Gomez would come in relief and record a huge inning ending double play as the bases were loaded with just one out and Gomez would induce the 6-4-3 double play to limit the damage and maintain SSU's three run deficit. In the top half of the 4th, a solo shot from junior outfielder
Otis Statum for his 7th of the season, would make it a two run game as SSU headed into the 6th inning.
A single from
Josh Lopez followed by a hit by pitch and a walk would load the bases with one out as
Torreahno Sweet came to the plate with a hot bat after recording his first career home run in game one of the series. A wild pitch later in the at bat would allow everyone to advance and Lopez would come across home to make it a one run game. After battling to a 1-2 count, Sweet would fight off a pitch and single through the right side to score Brodnansky from third and tie up the game at 7 a piece.
FINAL: SSU (7) vs. CSUDH (10)
A tie game would be short-lived for the Seawolves as Gomez would struggle in the bottom half of the 6th after a clean 4th and 5th inning. Four hits including a 2-run homer would allow Cal State Dominguez Hills to retake the lead 10-7 after a 3-run 6th. The Toros would not relinquish their lead this time as they shutout the Seawolves the next three innings to hold on for the 10-7 victory. Right hander
Vito Rodin would come in to finish the game and pitch two clean innings in the 7th and 8th allowing no hits on an efficient 25 pitches.
Otis Statum,
Christopher Wright, and
Torreahno Sweet would all record 2 hits in the contest. Statum and Sweet would combine for 3 of the team's 6 RBI's.
Game 2:
Junior and former USF Don
Michael Benz would make his team leading 13th appearance in game two of Saturday's doubleheader and he would continue the solid form he is in with a 6 inning outing allowing him to pick up his 5th win of the season. Benz is fresh off of a 7 inning complete game shutout against Cal State LA which earned him CCAA pitcher of the week honors. He would give up 3 runs off 7 hits and not walk a batter to earn himself the win.
4TH INNING:
Benz would allow 3 runs in three innings to allow the Toros to jump out to another early lead to start a trend in the series. Playing from behind is a familiar feeling though for head coach
John Goelz and the Seawolves as they've grinded and battled to come from behind in multiple games this season allowing them to be in the hunt for the conference tournament in the last couple weeks of the regular season.
A huge 7-run 4th inning would highlight Sonoma State's come-from-behind victory and the big bats would come out to play and lead the comeback. Catcher
Cole Brodnansky would tie the game up with one swing of the bat and blast a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence for his 2nd homer of the season. 5 straight hits for the Seawolves would highlight the rest of the inning as senior shortstop
Nick Simmons would double to left field to plate two more runs and give SSU a 5-3 lead. Power hitter
Otis Statum would cap off the 7-run inning the following at bat as he would send a 1-1 pitch to deep center field for his team leading 8th of the season. The 2-run shot would put Sonoma State up 7-3 and allow them to bat-around in the inning. Gates would single and steal a base but Medina would ground out to end the inning.
FINAL: SSU (7) vs. CSUDH (3)
Benz would retire 6 of 7 batters between the 5th and 6th inning before exiting in the 7th.
Joshua Medina would continue to show his versatility on the season as he would come in to shut the door and make his 9th appearance. Medina would retire the Toros in order on just 8 pitches to give the Seawolves their 20th win of the season.
Cole Brodnansky and
Logan Douglas would each record a pair of hits while Brodnansky would lead the way with his fourth game of 3 RBI's or more this season.
The Seawolves improve to 20-24 overall and 17-18 in CCAA play after splitting Saturday's doubleheader with the Toros. SSU will look to salvage a series split and remain in the hunt for the conference tournament in the series finale against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Sunday at 11:00 AM. 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
