TURLOCK, CALIF. - On Saturday, April 29th, the Sonoma State baseball team got a couple of solid pitching performances from second year players
Blake Janowicz and
Tanner Fonoti, allowing them to extend their win streak to three games and sweep Stanislaus State in Saturday's doubleheader. The Seawolves got some timely hits to grab early leads but more importantly continued one of their best pitching series of the season, riding deep starts from Janowicz and Fonoti.
In game one, the Seawolves would put up runs in three of the first four innings including a pair of RBI hits from catcher
Chris Ortiz to win 4-1. In game two, a 5-run 5th inning would break the game open as hits would be scattered all throughout the SSU lineup. Fonoti would make quick work of the Warriors hitters, allowing just five hits and picking up his 5th win of the season in the team's 8-0 victory.
GAME ONE SSU 4-1 STAN:
Center fielder
Kenny Decelle would kick things off with a leadoff triple down the right field line to apply pressure to the Warriors starter right away. After a full count walk to
Elijah Munoz,
Mark Hernandez would ground into a double play but allow Decelle to scamper home, giving the Seawolves a 1-0 lead after the first.
In the 2nd, Sonoma State would record three straight hits with one out and sophomore catcher
Chris Ortiz would highlight the rally with the RBI single to left, scoring shortstop
Daniel Monti from second to double the Seawolves lead.
Two innings later, Ortiz would cash in on another run scoring opportunity with an RBI double to left center, once again, scoring Monti from second who led the inning off with a double of his own.
Niko Tejada would follow with the team's third double of the inning as he traded places with Ortiz, extending SSU's lead to 4-0.
Sophomore right hander
Blake Janowicz would have a career day on the mound, completing six innings allowing just one run on four hits before departing for fellow right hander
Scotty Kato. Kato would record a season high five strikeouts in his three innings of work, allowing just two hits and picking up his first save as a Seawolf. After allowing two base runners in the 9th, the Seawolves defense would turn a slick double play around the horn, 5-4-3, to end the game and secure the 4-1 victory.
The Seawolves would out hit the Warriors 11-6 in the contest, recording their second double-digit hit game of the series.
Daniel Monti,
Joey Loveless,
Chris Ortiz and
Niko Tejada would each record two hits in the game as SSU continued to spread out their hits throughout the lineup. Ortiz and Tejada would combine for three RBI's to lead the way while Janowicz improved to 4-3 on the season.
GAME TWO SSU 8-0 STAN:
Despite the offensive production thus far in the series, the Seawolves offense would get off to a slow start as the Warriors starter retired 9 of the team's first 10 batters including a staggering 7 strikeouts to lead both teams. SSU would break through in the 4th though and record their first two hits of the game. Singles from
Cooper Callison and
Mark Hernandez would put runners on second and third and allow
Christopher Wright to hit a sac fly to right, scoring Callison from third to give the Seawolves a 1-0 lead.
The 5th inning would prove to be the decider for Sonoma State, as they racked up five hits and five runs to take a commanding 6-0 lead. With two runners on freshman infielder
Shane Callison would smack a double to right center, scoring
Jared Esparza and
Lucas Townsend.
Kenny Decelle would come to the plate next and keep the train rolling as he roped a triple to the left center wall to easily score Callison from second. That would go down as Decelle's second triple of the day as he now leads the team with two triples on the season. Two pitches later, older brother
Cooper Callison would single up the middle to score Decelle and give the Seawolves their 4th run of the inning.
Two batters later and after Stanislaus finally recorded the first out of the inning, Wright would continue to showcase his opposite field hitting ability, and line one down the left field line to plate Callison for the 5th run of the inning.
Junior right hander
Tanner Fonoti would make his team leading 10th start and have another career outing, pitching his second complete game shutout of the season. Despite a big 5th inning for the Seawolves, Fonoti would keep them in the game up until that point with plenty of contact outs as the SSU defense was sharp all game long.
Fonoti would also record his third straight 7-inning outing, going 2-1 during that stretch and earning CCAA Pitcher of the Week honors for his 7-inning, 2-hit shutout against Cal State LA. Fonoti finishes the game with 7 innings pitched, allowing five hits, one walk, and three strikeouts. He also picked up his team leading 5th win of the season and lowered his ERA to a team low 2.77, good for the third best ERA in the conference.
Kenny Decelle,
Cooper Callison and
Christopher Wright would record two hits a piece to lead the way offensively with Wright leading all players with three RBI's in the game. The Seawolves would tack on two more insurance runs in the 6th and win their third straight game, 8-0. This represents their fourth 3-game win streak of the season.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Seawolves improve to 18-21 overall and 12-19 in CCAA play as they record their third straight win over the Warriors. The series finale will take place on Sunday, April 30th at 12:00 PM with Sonoma State looking for a big series sweep. Live stats and stream links can be found at sonomaseawolves.com and you can stream the game LIVE on the CCAA Network.
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