Seawolves fall short to Cougars in series

COURTESY// Justin Ferrari

Sean Pauly fighting hard during his at-bat.

The Sonoma State Baseball team’s season is coming down to the wire as they are hunting towards making the playoffs. This past weekend the Seawolves faced off against California State University San Marcos for a four game series.

During the home opener on Friday, April 21, the action was packed as the game went on for nearly four hours and ended in the eleventh inning. SSU’s offense started early with three hits in the first two innings leading to a quick pair of runs to make it 2-0.

Junior right hander Nick Kamages started the game and battled through four hard innings only allowing one run, but in the fifth he ran into trouble. The Cougars stayed alive by hitting two singles and reaching on an error allowing them to score and tie the game. They scored two more that inning, forcing Kamages out of the game and making it 4-2. Sophomore Chase Banks came in to get the next batter to fly out and end the rally.

The offense was not done for Sonoma as they picked Kamages up in the bottom half with four runs to retake the lead, 6-4. Kenny Decille got the scoring started with his third homer of the season. A string of hits and walks led Italian transfer student Daniel Monti to clear the bases earning his seventh and eighth RBI.

Banks would go on to pitch three scoreless innings but in the ninth a pair of singles and a two out walk would load the bases for San Marcos. The next batter jumped on the first pitch, hitting it down the left field line, scoring two runners to force the extra innings. Sonoma States bats fell asleep and the Cougars took advantage.

Sonoma started the eleventh with a walk and an error on a sacrifice bunt. Another sac bunt was retired but moved the runners into scoring position. A line out to center would score one run and a single to right would score another. Sonoma fought until the last pitch but ended up losing 8-6.

  “The team and I share the same challenges, those include the facts that we are not currently producing at the level we would like to. Falling short at the moment of putting runs together when we need to. We are beating ourselves. We are a good team with great players and we are going to stick to our game plan to finish strong,” said third baseman Niko Tejada.

The following games were a double-header resulting in a split on the day. Sonoma State fired back with a 12-hit, 9-run performance to take game one 9-3.  Decille and Chris Ortiz both had an outstanding game. Decille earned himself a three-run double in the second inning and three-run home run from Ortiz in the fifth inning to break things open. In game two the Seawolves faced off against the Cougars ace, Pat Macdonald Jr. only salvaging one run off of six hits to fall 3-1 to conclude Saturday’s games.

On the final day of games Sonoma would drop the series losing the finale 3-0. Senior right hander Jake Dent had a career performance pitching a strong seven innings only allowing two runs and striking out four. San Marcos’ deep bullpen kept Sonoma’s offense at bay, leaving seven Seawolves on base and only allowing seven hits. Sonoma State falls to a 15-21 overall and 9-19 in CCAA play.