ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Saturday, February 18th, the Sonoma State baseball team took on Fresno Pacific in a doubleheader to conclude their non-conference schedule before starting CCAA play the following week. After dropping the series opener on Friday, the Seawolves would get some stellar pitching and come from behind in both games to win in walk-off fashion and take the series two games to one. They will ride the momentum into a solid opening matchup against the Broncos who were crowned 2022 CCAA Tournament champs for the second straight season, dating back to 2019.
A PAIR OF WALK-OFFS | GAME ONE SSU 2-1 FPU:
In a swift and low scoring affair, SSU pitching would give up just one run on 7 hits but trail the entire game entering the 9th inning. 4 of the team's 8 hits would all come in the 9th inning as the Seawolves rallied to score a pair of runs and walk it off in dramatic fashion. A 1-out RBI double from second year catcher
Lucas Townsend would score a speedy
Cooper Callison who pinch ran for
Daniel Monti after his single to start the rally.
Right fielder
Jared Esparza would pull a ball to right field to advance Townsend to third with one out and
Shane Callison coming to the plate. Callison would battle and rifle a hard hit ball to second base, allowing Townsend to score from third and give the Seawolves the 2-1 victory. Townsend was the lone Seawolf hitter to record two hits in the game and was responsible for both runs, knocking in the first and then scoring the winning run from third.
GAME TWO SSU 3-2 FPU:
In game two of Saturday's doubleheader, the game would remain scoreless with some great pitching for the first four innings of the game. In the 5th inning, SSU would strike first with a two-out single from
Shane Callison, his second RBI of the day after walking it off in the game prior. Callison would score junior infielder
Daniel Cabral who got on with a one-out single, he would finish the game with a hit and a run scored.
In the top of the 7th, the Sunbirds would finally get to relief pitcher
Michael Benz, rattling off three straight singles to score their first run of the game and tie things up. Benz would depart for
Scotty Kato who would eventually give up a sac fly RBI before ending the inning with FPU on top 2-1.
The day belonged to Sonoma State though as they would turn around and answer with a pair of runs of their own to walk it off in the bottom half of the 7th, winning the game 3-2. The Seawolves were down to their final out after the first two batters were retired, but a
Joey Loveless triple would ignite the SSU bench and give them life with the tying runner 90 feet away. Loveless has exploded this season after playing in just 7 games last season and is currently hitting .357 with a near 1.000 OPS.
Back-to-back ensuing walks would then load the bases and force a pitching change for the Sunbirds with the Seawolves hottest hitter coming to the plate in outfielder
Kenny Decelle. Decelle would smash a single through FPU's third baseman and score
Brandon Herter and
Ryan Wilmoth who pinch ran for Loveless after his triple earlier in the inning. Decelle came away the hero as SSU walked it off for the second straight game, winning 3-2 and taking a solid 5-2 overall record in conference action the following week.
Decelle received player of the week consideration after he finished the weekend with a team high 6 hits, 5 RBI's, and a 3-run blast in game one. He leads the team with a staggering .455 average and a 1.238 OPS as he continues to put himself on the map in his Seawolf debut.
STELLAR PITCHING:
In game one, senior right hander
Nick Roth would get his second start of the season after returning from injury. Roth would go a solid three innings giving up just 1 run on 4 hits and striking out a career high 6 batters. He would depart for fellow right hander
Jake Dent in the 4th inning. Dent played during the 2019 season and made his second appearance this season in dominant fashion. Dent allowed just two hits in his three innings of work before turning it over to sophomore
Blake Janowicz.
Janowicz would finish the game and pitch the final three innings, giving up just one hit and no runs, allowing the Seawolves to score two in the bottom of the 9th and win the game. Janowicz kept his ERA at zero after allowing no runs in his second appearance and would get credit for his first win of the season.
In game two, junior right hander
Tanner Fonoti made his team high third start of the season and went two and a third before departing for
Michael Benz after an error and a walk to start the inning. Benz would get a crucial ground ball and get the runner out at third in a run down and then strikeout the next FPU batter looking to end the threat and keep the game scoreless.
Benz would go a solid four innings in relief and take the game into the 7th before the Sunbird hitters strung together three straight hits to force him out of the game. Freshman
Scotty Kato would come in and make his team high 4th appearance in relief. He would limit the damage to just two runs, both being charged to Benz, and continues his solid start to the season as he holds a 2.25 ERA and picked up his first win as a Seawolf.
Head coach
John Goelz threw arguably his best set of pitchers in Saturday's doubleheader and as a result had their two lowest scoring games of the season thus far, allowing just three combined runs in the two games.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Seawolves conclude their non-conference schedule with a 5-2 overall record securing wins against Academy of Art, Holy Names, and Fresno Pacific. They will kick off their conference schedule on the road against Cal Poly Pomona on Friday, February 24th. Live stats and stream links can all be found at sonomaseawolves.com on the baseball schedule page. As always you can stream the game LIVE on the CCAA Network.
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