ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Friday, May 6th, the Sonoma State baseball team clutched up and earned the doubleheader sweep over Cal State San Bernardino with some terrific pitching and effective hitting to secure themselves a CCAA Tournament berth! The Seawolves were led by a dominant 7-inning performance from Blake Janowicz in game one and then gutsy performances from Michael Benz and Joshua Medina in game two. Benz made his 3rd appearance of the series while Medina picked up his 2nd save of the series in his 2nd appearance of the series as well.   

Game 1: SSU (5) vs. CSUSB (1)

Freshman Blake Janowicz would get the call for game one and make his 11th start of the season. Despite a 7.02 ERA, Janowicz has made several deep starts for SSU and would add another one to his resume with a 7 inning, 1 run outing to earn his second win of the season. Janowicz would shut out the Coyotes the first four innings and give up just 1 run in the 5th off an RBI double. 

1ST & 2ND INNING:

The scoring would start early for the Seawolves as they grabbed 3 runs in the first two innings of play. A lead off walk for power hitter Otis Statum followed by a single up the middle from Sean Pauly would set the table for veteran Joshua Medina. Medina would continue his stellar senior campaign and rifle a ball off the right-center fence to score Statum and Pauly. Medina would get thrown out at second though on a great throw from the right fielder to clear the bases. 

In the 2nd, senior shortstop Nick Simmons would continue his hot bat and pull a double down the left field line. With Logan Douglas on first after a 1-out single, he would hustle around and score to give SSU a 3-0 lead after two. 

4TH INNING: 

In the 4th, Torreahno Sweet would impact the game with his bat and his feet as he would fight off a 1-2 pitch for a single up the middle and then go on to steal second easily to get into scoring position. Nick Simmons would then come to the plate and blast a 2-run shot deep over left field, almost an identical homer to his one in Thursday's game against the Coyotes. Simmons would record his third of the season and his second in the series, combining for 5 RBI's with both homers. 

Janowicz would retire 6 of the next 8 batters he faced in the 6th and 7th inning before exiting with a season high 7 innings pitched. Right hander Michael Benz would come in to replace Janowicz and make his second appearance of the series as head coach John Goelz and his staff continue to piece together their bullpen despite several injuries. Benz would show no sign of fatigue after throwing 2 innings in Thursday's contest as he would retire the Coyotes in order and complete the 8th and 9th inning with just 22 pitches. Janowicz would earn his 2nd win of the season as the Seawolves took game one of Friday's doubleheader 5-1. 


Game 2: SSU (8) vs. CSUSB (0)

The Seawolves cruised to an 8-0 victory in game two with some gutsy pitching from Michael Benz and Joshua Medina, each making multiple appearances this series. Benz would get the start after finishing the prior game and go 4 strong scoreless innings before departing for Medina. 

Benz would retire 12 of his 16 batters faced and give up just 3 hits in the outing. After running into trouble in the top of the 4th, allowing a double and hitting a batter with two outs, head coach John Goelz would come out and say just the right words as Benz would bounce back to emphatically strike out the San Bernardino batter to end the threat. The Seawolves bench would erupt after the K as Benz would scamper off the mound keeping the Coyotes off the board and maintaining the lead. 

4TH INNING:

After jumping out to another early 2-0 lead with runs in the 2nd and 3rd, the Seawolves offense would finally chase the Coyotes starter from the game with a decisive 3-run 4th inning. A leadoff double from catcher Cole Brodnansky and a single by Josh Lopez would put runners at the corners with no outs. Third baseman Logan Douglas would then come to the plate and put a charge into one, over the left fielder's head all the way to the fence to easily score Brodnansky and send Lopez to third. 

Nick Simmons would add to his RBI total for the series and hit a sac fly to left field, scoring Lopez from third to give Sonoma State a 4-0 lead. Two batters later and a pitching change would bring up Otis Statum to the dish. After falling behind in the count 1-2 to a higher velocity pitcher, Statum would shorten up and rifle a ball through the right side to score Douglas from second and complete the 3-run inning for SSU. 

6TH INNING:

Two innings later, the Seawolves would get deeper into the Coyotes bullpen and force runners on base. Otis Statum would get on with another hard infield single to the second baseman and eventually come around to score on a wild pitch. After another walk in the inning to load the bases with one out, Cole Brodnansky would deliver another insurance run with a sac fly to left, scoring the speedy Desmond Gates from third. 

Senior utility player Joshua Medina would relieve Benz at the start of the 5th and go 3 scoreless to earn his team leading 6th save of the season. Medina would get out of a bases loaded jam in the 5th and then retire 6 of the next 7 batters to end the game. Both Benz and Medina only combined for 3 strikeouts in the game but were effective pitching to contact and getting some solid defense behind them. Simmons led the team with 5 assists in game two and went error free in both games on the day. 

Logan Douglas had a career day as he went a perfect 3-3 from the plate with a team high 3 RBI's and a run scored. Otis Statum and Cole Brodnansky also each delivered a pair of hits and combined for 2 RBI's and 2 runs scored in the team's victory. With their third win of the series over the Coyotes and a Cal State East Bay loss to Chico State in game one of their doubleheader earlier today, Sonoma State officially clinched their spot in the CCAA Tournament and will see postseason baseball for the first time since 2014. After being picked 9th in the conference preseason poll and starting their 2022 campaign 4-15, SSU would go on to split their next three series and then win the following three series over Stanislaus State, Cal State San Marcos, and Cal State LA to put themselves in the hunt for a postseason spot. With the series clinched over Cal State San Bernardino, the Seawolves will await their opponent in the first round of the conference tournament and find out the official seedings on Sunday, May 8th.    

The Seawolves improve to 23-25 overall and 20-19 in CCAA play after their doubleheader sweep over San Bernardino. They will look for the series sweep tomorrow morning and also celebrate senior day with first pitch slated for 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