ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Saturday, April 27th, the Sonoma State baseball team came from behind twice in the second game of the doubleheader to take down the Coyotes 4-3 and keep their postseason hopes alive. The Seawolves have played the last two weeks of the regular season with their backs against the wall and came up with another crucial win behind
Tanner Fonoti's 7-inning complete game. After being shutout in game one of Saturday's doubleheader, the Seawolves were faced with another must-win scenario in game two and the team's ace came up big with a complete game performance, allowing three runs and striking out four batters.
SSU went down twice in the game but
Joey Loveless came up with a pair of clutch RBI singles to help tie the game and then a tremendous hustle play from
Christopher Wright on a sac fly would go down as the game winning run in the fifth inning. Loveless first tied the game with a 2-out RBI single in the third and then started the rally in the fifth with another RBI single to knot the game at three.
After a textbook sac bunt from
Mark Hernandez to move the runners over to second and third,
Cooper Callison would come to the plate and send the first pitch he saw to left field. With the game on the line and a good athlete on third in
Christopher Wright, third base coach Zack Pace would gamble and send Wright on the tag-up. The throw was on the money with a hop but Wright would slide in acrobatically head first under the tag and get the safe call to give SSU the 4-3 lead.
Fonoti would give up a pair of 1-out singles in the 6th but catch a break on a deep fly ball out to center that allowed the runner to tag from second. However, shortstop
Niko Tejada would take the ball and step on second to appeal the tag-up and the umpire would ring up the runner saying he left early. The double play would end the threat and maintain the lead heading into the 7th.
After another 1-out single in the 7th, Fonoti would field his position and take a line drive off his chest. While staying composed, Fonoti gathered himself and threw a dart to second to get the lead runner and put the Seawolves one out away from a clutch win. He would induce a ground ball to second where
Shane Callison would fire to first for the out and secure the one run victory.
Similar to
Blake Janowicz in game one of the series, Fonoti pitched to contact all day and despite giving up 13 hits he did not walk a batter and got some clutch defensive plays to secure his 5th win of the season.
Kenny Decelle and
Joey Loveless combined for four hits on the day and Wright would walk in all three at bats and score two runs.
LOOKING AHEAD
Sonoma State improves to 21-24 overall and 15-20 in conference play after splitting Saturday's doubleheader with San Bernardino. The series finale and senior day will take place on Sunday, April 29th 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.
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
