ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Saturday, February 24th, the Sonoma State baseball team opened up conference play with a doubleheader against the defending league champs in Cal State Monterey Bay. Prior to first pitch, Sonoma State Athletics honored program legend Derek Bell as he was inducted into the CCAA Hall of Fame earlier this month. He would throw out a ceremonial first pitch and pose for photos with former athletics director Bill Fusco and current Seawolves head coach John Goelz. 

GAME 1 SSU 8-13 CSUMB

Right hander Nik Kamages made his team leading fourth start of the season. Sonoma State got on the board first with an RBI double from Christopher Wright in the first inning. The lead would be short lived though as the Otters put up a five spot in the top half of the third. The Seawolves would respond quickly though with the meat of their order, putting up back-to-back three run innings in the third and fourth. RBI hits from Braeden Holliday and Jared Esparza would cut the deficit to just one run. 

Then in the fourth, Wright would come up with another big swing and record his second home run of the season to give the Seawolves a 7-5 lead. With two outs and a runner on second the Otters pitcher made a big mistake and plunked Mark Hernandez to send Wright to the plate. He would make him pay with a three run shot to right field and retake the lead for SSU.  

Despite the momentum swing Monterey Bay would show why they are one of the best offensive teams in the region as they responded with a three run shot of their own in the top of the fifth to jump back in front 8-7. The Otters wouldn't look back after that as they racked up 19 hits in the ball game and recorded four more runs in the final two innings to solidify the 13-8 victory. 

The Seawolves put up 12 hits of their own for 8 runs in the game but left ten runners on base and struggled to put up clean innings late in the game. Wright finished with a stellar game from the plate, recording four hits, scoring three runs and driving in four. Outfielder Braeden Holliday and shortstop Daniel Monti would also combine for four hits and a pair of RBI's. 

GAME 2 SSU 4-15 CSUMB

In game two of Saturday's doubleheader, Sonoma State found themselves down 5-0 after the first three innings but climbed their way back in the game with a pair of runs in the fourth and sixth innings. Holliday would smash a ball to deep right center field and with a bit of luck, the Monterey Bay outfielder would leap in an attempt to rob the homer but it would bounce off his glove and over the fence to give Holliday his second home run of the season. 

In the sixth, they would string together four hits and get back-to-back RBI singles from Bryson Mcarn and Daniel Monti. The junior transfer from Elk Grove would make his second start of the season and come up with a big RBI single to make it 6-3. Then Monti would follow and jump on the first pitch to rifle his RBI single up the middle making it 6-4. 

The Otters would respond once again though as they had all day long and put up a crooked number in the seventh. They would tack on nine runs in the final three innings to secure the 15-4 win and doubleheader sweep to open up the series. The Seawolves put themselves in great positions in both games today but failed to keep the Otters bats quiet when they needed to. Holliday concluded a solid day at the plate with a team leading three hits and two RBI's while Mark Hernandez and Daniel Monti each had a pair of hits. 

Tanner Fonoti made his third start of the season for the Seawolves, going five innings and striking out a team high seven batters. He leads the team with 22 on the season and ranks 5th in the entire CCAA. Fellow right handers Colt Wuelfing and Daniel Killingsworth would tag team the complete the final four innings for SSU.    

LOOKING AHEAD 

The Seawolves fall to 5-5 overall and 0-2 in conference play. They will conclude their four game series with the Otters on Sunday in a doubleheader starting at 11:00 AM. 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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