ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Tuesday, February 7th, the Sonoma State baseball team made their home debut on the 2023 season against PacWest member Holy Names. The Seawolves would capitalize off of some free passes from the Hawks pitching staff and bust things open with a 5-run 4th inning. They would fend off a late rally from the Hawks in the 7th inning, but solid relief appearances from right handers
Ross Goldschlag and Scott Kato would setup lefty
Michael Panichi for the four out save, his first of the season.
4TH INNING:
A single and a pair of walks would start the bottom of the second for the Seawolves, but with no outs the Hawks pitcher was able to record the next three SSU batters, all on fly ball outs, and surrender just one run in the inning. A deep fly to left from junior outfielder
Joey Loveless would score second year player
Braeden Holliday to give Sonoma State the 1-0 lead.
Fast forward to the 4th inning, the Seawolves would finally capitalize on some free passes from the Hawks pitching staff, and put up a five spot to take a 6-0 lead. A walk, a double from Loveless, and a hit batter would load the bases with no outs for the second time this game. First year player
Cooper Callison would then get plunked and take a ball off the shoulder, scoring the SSU runner from third and forcing an exit from the Holy Names starter. The ensuing pitcher would give up an RBI single to
Kenny Decelle and then walk the next batter for another free run, making it 4-0 still with nobody out.
Holy Names would make a second pitching change and finally see some success as the new reliever would strike out three of the next four batters to end the inning. However, before the third strikeout, junior first baseman
Christopher Wright would apply the big damage hit in the inning with a two-out single to right center. He would score
Cooper Callison and
Brandon Herter to extend Sonoma State's lead to 6-0.
Sophomore right hander
Blake Janowicz would make his first start of the 2023 season after making 13 appearances last season. After giving up a leadoff single to start the game, Janowicz would settle in nicely and retire the next batter followed by picking off the leadoff runner at first to clear the bases. Janowicz would finish the day with four innings of work, giving up just two hits and recording a strikeout.
7TH INNING:
Veteran right hander
Ross Goldschlag would replace Janowicz to start the 5th inning and throw two solid innings, retiring all six batters he faced and maintaining the Seawolves 6-run lead. After another pitching change, the Hawks would finally get on the board and string together some hits in the 7th inning to cut the deficit in half. 3 runs off of 5 hits would force another pitching change in the inning, brining first year player
Scotty Kato to the mound. Kato would force a fly out from the next batter to end the threat, leaving SSU with a 6-3 lead with two innings to play.
9TH INNING:
Kato would get the first two outs in the top of the 8th, but head coach
John Goelz would go to his bullpen one last time, turning things over to lefty
Michael Panichi to get the final four outs of the game. The freshman from Aliso Viejo would force a fly out to end the 8th and then work around two base runners in the 9th to record the four out save and his first as a Seawolf. SSU would hold on to win 6-3 with some solid relief pitching and a 5-run 4th inning, remaining undefeated on the season with a 3-0 start.
The Seawolves put together tough at bats early in the game, working a total of 5 walks, and were able to ride a big 5th inning and a pair of solid relief appearances from Goldschlag and Panichi. Goldschlag would get credit for the win for his two scoreless innings of work, his first of the season. Center fielder and first year player
Kenny Decelle continues to make his impact felt at the plate as he went a perfect 3-3 from the dish and has started the season 4-of-7 with a near .600 average.
Christopher Wright had the big 2-RBI single in the 4th inning while
Shane Callison,
Joey Loveless, and
Cooper Callison all recorded an RBI a piece in the contest.
BY THE NUMBERS:
| Sonoma State |
Team |
Holy Names |
| 6 |
Runs |
3 |
| 6 |
Hits |
8 |
| 0 |
Errors |
0 |
| 7 |
Strikeouts |
3 |
| 5 |
Walks |
1 |
| 6 |
LOB |
7 |
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Seawolves continue their hot start to the 2023 season and are now 3-0 with wins over Academy of Art and Holy Names. They will hit the road for a rematch with the Hawks on Tuesday, February 14th before returning back home for their final non-conference series with Fresno Pacific on February 17th. 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.
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
