ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. – On Saturday, April 8th, the Sonoma State baseball team split today's doubleheader with Cal State Dominguez Hills, giving them the series victory three games to one. The Seawolves would bel their way to a 10-run victory in game one before dropping the series finale 6-3. Head coach
John Goelz and his squad would record season highs in runs and hits in today's first game, scoring 14 runs off 15 hits, and getting a great relief outing from right hander
Jake Dent. The series win keeps SSU in the hunt as they look for their second straight CCAA Tournament appearance.
GAME ONE SSU 14-4 CSUDH:
The Toros offense would shake their struggles in a hurry after being shutout in Friday's defeat, 1-0, and belt a pair of homers in the first two innings to jump out to a 3-0 lead. The Seawolves would turn things around though and get great offensive production from the bottom half of their order. Two separate 2-RBI singles in the 2nd and the 4th would eventually tie the game up at four a piece.
Braeden Holliday and
Niko Tejada would be responsible for the RBI singles, both representing the 8 and 9 spot in the batting order.
In a bit of a bullpen approach, lefty
Michael Panichi would get his first start of the season but fail to get through the first two innings. In would come big right hander
Jake Dent on short rest but fatigue would hardly show as Dent would work his way out of the jam in the second and go on to throw 5.1 innings, giving up just 1 run off 6 hits. Dent kept the Toros offense guessing with a sharp breaking ball and a lively fastball, striking out a season high 6 batters in his outing.
6TH INNING:
After a clean top half from Dent, the bottom of the 6th would start off with four straight hits from the Seawolves, including an RBI single from Holliday and then a 2-RBI double down the left field line from Tejada. All four hits would come from the bottom four of the Seawolves order, including back-to-back singles from
Cooper Callison and
Sean Pauly to start the inning.
After a Dominguez Hills pitching change, Tejada would get moved over to third on a ground ball and then
Jared Esparza would hit a chopper to first, allowing Tejada to dart home and slide under the tag, extending SSU's lead to 8-4.
After an infield single from streaking hitter
Mark Hernandez to keep the inning alive,
Christopher Wright would waste no time and jump on the first pitch, lining a no doubter to right field for his 4th homer of the season. The 2-run shot would complete a trio of six's, 6 runs, off 6 hits, in the 6th inning.
A pair of strikeouts in the 7th would end the inning and cap off a tremendous relief appearance from Dent, putting him in line for his first win of the season.
8TH INNING:
After another Toros pitching change, the Seawolves would quickly load the bases with a pair of singles and a walk.
Daniel Monti would then come in as a pinch hitter after returning from injury earlier in the week and line a ball into center field to score
Daniel Cabral who also started the inning with a pinch-hit single of his own.
Two batters later, a sac fly from catcher
Chris Ortiz would score
Elijah Munoz from third to tack on another run in the inning. Then a two out 2-RBI single from
Cooper Callison would cap off a 4-run 8th, securing the 10-run victory in game three of the series.
Everyone got in on the action in the 10-run win as Sonoma State recorded a season high 14 runs and 15 hits, five different players recording two or more hits. The 8 and 9 hitters for the Seawolves, Holliday and Tejada, would combine for 7 RBI's in the game, including a career high 4-RBI game from Tejada with a pair of 2-RBI hits.
Jake Dent would pick up his first win of the season with a season high 6 strikeouts in his 5-plus innings of work. Right handers
Caleb Davis and
Wilbur Berrios would throw two scoreless innings in the 8th and 9th, not allowing a single hit to close out the game and secure the series win.
GAME TWO SSU 3-6 CSUDH:
In the 7-inning series finale, sophomore
Sean Pauly would get his 14th start of the season as his average continues to climb in recent weeks. Pauly would start things off with a fantastic 9-pitch at bat, ending with a lined single to right field. After stealing second and then getting to third on a ground ball out,
Mark Hernandez would simplify his approach and score Pauly on another ground ball out to second, giving SSU the early 1-0 lead.
In the following at bat,
Christopher Wright would battle to a 3-2 count and then yank a solo home run just fair inside the foul pole, giving him a two home run day and his team leading 5th of the season. Wright went yard on an impressive sweeping breaking ball in on the hands as the whole team willed the ball fair just inside the right field foul pole as the Seawolves jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
Right hander
Tanner Fonoti would get his team leading 7th start on the season as he was fresh off a dominant 7-inning complete game against 5th ranked San Bernardino the weekend prior. Possibly feeling some fatigue from that outing, the Toros would get to Fonoti early as he gave up four runs in his three innings of work. A pair of solo home runs and an RBI double would do the damage as Fonoti would last just three innings and give up three earned.
Joey Loveless would continue his productive day and line a single to left center to get one back in the bottom half of the third, but the Toros would answer again as SSU had to go to their bullpen early, with a 2-RBI double in the 4th to take a 6-3 lead. The Toros reliever would go four innings to complete the game and pick up the win as the Seawolves ran out of juice in the series finale.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMERS:
Wright, Loveless, and Munoz would combine for six hits in the game, two each, while Wright was responsible for two of the team's three runs. Freshman right hander
Scotty Kato would settle down and complete the next four innings for SSU, giving up just two runs off four hits in his 8th appearance of the season.
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Seawolves add another win and improve their record to 12-14 overall and 6-12 in CCAA play. They will return to Seawolf Diamond on Tuesday, April 11th for another makeup game with Cal State East Bay at 2:00 PM before hitting the road and taking on Cal State LA on Friday, April 14th. 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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