ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Friday, April 26th, the Sonoma State baseball team opened up their final home series of the 2024 season against Cal State San Bernardino. Every game down the stretch has the team's postseason hopes on the line as the Seawolves find themselves just two games out of the final playoff spot with eight games to play.
Senior right hander
Blake Janowicz would get the start for game one of the series and throw an 8-inning gem to record his second win of the season. Janowicz pitched to contact, allowing 11 hits but not walking a single batter and getting some solid defensive help behind him to power through eight innings with 101 total pitches.
The scoring got started early as a pair of walks would set the stage for the team's home run leader
Christopher Wright. Wright would yank a single through the right side to load the bases. Then, on the first pitch of the next at bat, the Coyotes pitcher would get called for a balk and plate
Sean Pauly from third for the game's first run. Two batters later,
Mark Hernandez would slice a double down the right field line to score two more runs and give SSU the 3-0 lead after the first.
In the third inning, the Decelle and Wright combination would strike again as
Kenny Decelle doubled to the gap to leadoff the inning and then Wright would go the other way to score Decelle easily from second and extend the Seawolves lead to 4-0. Wright leads the team with 43 RBI's on the season and had a pair in the series opener.
In the fifth, Wright would take advantage of a 2-0 count and send a moon shot to the opposite field for his 10th home run of the season. The wind was whipping all afternoon and Wright showcased his raw strength with an opposite field shot, putting the Seawolves up 5-1. Later in the inning,
Joey Loveless and
Mark Hernandez would single to put runners on and then
Daniel Monti would draw a walk to load the bases with one out.
Cooper Callison would get the job done with a ground out to second allowing Loveless to score from third as he recorded his 14th RBI of the season.
Utility player
Niko Tejada would take the mound in the ninth for his third appearance of the season. San Bernardino would threaten with three straight singles and score on a throwing error to cut the lead to four. The Seawolves would trade a run for an out the very next at bat as Hernandez fielded a ground ball and got the runner out at second to record the first out of the inning. Tejada would go on to strikeout the next batter and then end the game in dramatic fashion with a pickoff to get the Coyotes runner out at first, for the team's second pickoff of the game.
Both teams combined for 27 hits in the game with Wright recording a game high four hits and a pair of RBI's. Hernandez had three hits of his own and Decelle and Loveless each had two. Despite just picking up his second win of the season, Janowicz has been in great rhythm lately as this start marks his 5th straight of 5-innings or more. His 8-inning performance would also go down as a career high helping keep SSU in the postseason hunt.
Wright has now raised his batting average to over .300 and Decelle is inching closer to .380 on the season, ranking inside the top-10 in the entire conference. Loveless has also been a nice answer at DH for the Seawolves as he extends his hitstreak to five games with a batting average of .368.
LOOKING AHEAD
Sonoma State improves to 20-23 overall and 14-19 in conference play after taking the series opener over Cal State San Bernardino, 7-4. The series will resume with a doubleheader on Saturday 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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