ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Tuesday, April 11th, the Sonoma State baseball team once again resumed their rained out series with Cal State East Bay from early March. The make up would represent the third game of the series with one left to play next week on April 18th. After exploding for 14 runs and earning a 3-1 series victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills last weekend, the Seawolves offense would sputter for most of the day, putting together just four hits and one run giving the Pioneers the 5-1 victory. 

SSU would threaten in the 5th and 7th with runners in scoring position but an out at the plate and an inning ending double play would keep the Seawolves off the board until the 8th inning. A throwing error with runners on first and third would plate Brandon Herter in the 8th, but a pair of strikeouts the following inning would end any chance of an SSU comeback. 

7TH INNING:

Right hander Michael Benz would get his 2nd start of the season after battling through injury and put up four solid innings of work, giving up just one run and striking out a pair. The contact pitcher from Corte Madera would get some nice defensive support and keep the Seawolves well in the game as he matched his season high in innings pitched. 

Fellow right hander Ross Goldschlag would come in to pitch the 5th and 6th but allow a run on a sac fly in the 6th as Est Bay extended their lead to 2-0. Goldschlag would start the 7th but run into some trouble after allowing an RBI single and then a costly 2-out error to keep the inning alive. Following the defensive mistake, the Pioneers would keep the inning alive with an infield single with each runner going station-to-station. 

Goldschlag would depart for sophomore Caleb Davis but another infield error would plate the runner from third and tack on another run in the inning. Davis would field a comebacker from the next Pioneer batter to end the inning but not before East Bay added two more runs to give them a 4-0 advantage. 

The Seawolves would threaten in the bottom half of the inning though with a leadoff double from Mark Hernandez and then a walk from Christopher Wright, putting two on with no outs. A fly out to center would allow Hernandez to tag up from second but then a crucial inning ending double play the very next at bat would kill the SSU rally.   

9TH INNING:

Both teams would trade runs in the 8th as the Seawolves got on the board and took advantage of a throwing error from the Pioneers catcher to make it a 4-run game. Wright would get plunked in the back to put the lead runner on in the 9th and make things interesting but a pair of strikeouts and then a ground out back to the pitcher would seal the deal and give East Bay their third win of the series. 

Elijah Munoz, Braeden Holliday, and Jared Esparza would be responsible for the three other hits in the game while Wilbur Berrios would complete the 9th in his 4th appearance of the season. 
 

Sonoma State	Teams	Cal State East Bay
1	Runs	5
4	Hits	15
2	Errors	2
6	LOB	11
4	BB	1
6	SO	3
0	RBI's	5

LOOKING AHEAD:

The Seawolves fall to 12-15 overall and 6-13 in CCAA play. They will hit the road this weekend and head south to take on Cal State LA. Game one of the four game series is slated for Friday evening at 6:00 PM. Live stats and stream links can be found at sonomaseawolves.com and 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