ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Saturday, May 7th, the Sonoma State baseball team capped off a stellar weekend with a near perfect senior day as they took down Cal State San Bernardino 7-1 to sweep the Coyotes and propel themselves into the CCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. With intentions to win the game, head coach John Goelz still made sure to get all of his seniors on the field with a postseason spot secured yesterday, allowing for senior right hander Sir Gomez to make his 5th appearance of the season and his first start of his 2022 campaign. Everything seemed to go the Seawolves way early on as Gomez came out and had his best outing of the season as he went 4 strong innings allowing just 1 hit and 1 run before departing to hugs and hig fives from his coaches and teammates. Gomez recorded a season high 4 innings and 3 strikeouts before making way for fellow senior right hander Aidan Dolan. 

1ST INNING:

The Seawolves offense would remain hot as they scored first for the fourth time this series. A 2-run oppo-bomb from senior Josh Medina would ignite the crowd and SSU bench as Medina trotted around the bases for his 6th home run of the season. Senior outfielder Otis Statum drew a leadoff walk to start the game, allowing Medina to score him with 2-run shot two batters later. Starter Sir Gomez would record three praefect innings to start his outing before allowing a solo homer in the 4th. He would retire 12 of the 13 batters he faced before departing after the 4th inning.  

4TH & 5TH INNING:

Sonoma State would grab firm control of the game in the 4th inning as they grabbed 3 runs off of 3 hits to take a 5-1 lead. Back-to-back singles from Medina and senior catcher Cole Brodnansky would kickoff the inning. Two batters later, Medina would scamper home on a wild pitch and then a sac fly from Torreahno Sweet would score Brodnansky from third to give the Seawolves a 4-1 lead. With two outs and the bases cleared, Josh Lopez would take matters into his own hands and smash a towering fly ball to straight away center that would bounce off the top of the batters eye and go over the fence for his 3rd homer of the season, completing the 3-run inning and giving SSU the 5-1 lead. 

With Gomez not completing 5 innings, senior right hander Aidan Dolan would take the mound for the 5th inning with a chance to record his first win of the season. Dolan would retire the first two San Bernardino batters but allow a 2-out walk to keep the inning alive. After the base runner stole second to get into scoring position, Dolan would bare down and get the batter to strikeout swinging to end the threat and put himself in line for his first career win as a Seawolf. 

In the bottom of the 5th, senior shortstop Nick Simmons would leadoff with a walk and then find his way to third base batters later. With two outs, Medina would jump on the first pitch he saw and hook a no-doubter over the left field fence for his second homer of the game and his 7th of the season. This would be Medina's first multi-home run game of the season as the Seawolves now led 7-1.  

FINAL: SSU (7) vs. CSUSB (1)  

Four more pitchers would each record an inning to close out the game for the Seawolves. Senior right hander David Newman pitched the 6th inning in his 7th appearance of the season. Newman would allow 2 hits but strike out the final batter swinging to end the threat and record a clean sheet in the inning. Freshman Jason Doktorczyk would return from injury and make his first appearance since April 15th. Dok would retire the Coyotes in order but get some defensive help from center fielder Ezele Wicks who made a spectacular catch, robbing a home run and snagging the fly ball well over the right center fence to keep the Coyotes off the board in the inning. Wicks was almost waist high on the fence as he caught the ball and bounced back onto the warning track. Dok would strikeout the final batter to retire the side. 

Junior transfer from Napa Valley JC Tanner Fonoti, would make his 12th appearance in the 8th inning for SSU. Fonoti would again retire the San Bernardino hitters in order and strikeout the final batter swinging on a 1-2 fastball. Fonoti would start the 9th and record another strikeout and the first two outs of the inning before departing for senior right hander Matt DiLeonardo who would make his first appearance of the season. DiLeonardo would face one batter and get the last out of the game as he induced a ground ball to Christopher Wright at first base. DiLeonardo would hustle over to receive the toss from Wright and end the game as the Seawolves would sweep the Coyotes and take game 4, 7-1. Aidan Dolan would hold on to get the win and record his first as a Seawolf. 

Josh Medina would lead the way offensively as he capped off a fantastic SSU career going 4-4 from the plate, perfect for the first time this season, and record 2 homers and a season high 4 RBI's in the team's win. Fellow senior Josh Lopez would finish 1-3 from the dish and record his 3rd home run of the season. Head coach John Goelz and Sonoma State rode the wave this season and have played their way into the CCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2014 season. The official tournament bracket will be released tomorrow at goccaa.org as SSU awaits their first round opponent. The tournament will be held at Nettleton Stadium hosted by Chico State and will kickoff on Wednesday, May 11th. Congratulations to all of the Sonoma State baseball seniors on terrific SSU careers and we thank you for your dedication and commitment to the Seawolves baseball program. 

The Seawolves improve to 24-25 overall and 21-19 in CCAA play after their four game sweep over Cal State San Bernardino. Head to sonomaseawolves.com/baseballseniors to read more about your 2022 SSU seniors and 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