Taylor Thurber pitched six shutout innings in the Stompers 6-0 win over the Admirals Tuesday. Thurber allowed only four hits and struck out five to earn his seventh win of the season.
James Toy III/Sonoma Stompers
Geoff Safford, Media Relations Assistant
The Stompers entered the final week of the regular season in a great position having taken a two game lead in the second half standings in the Pacific Association. They had also won four straight coming into Tuesday’s game against the Vallejo Admirals. The ace of the pitching staff Taylor Thurber was on the mound Tuesday looking to bounce back from a rough outing in his last start on August 17 in Vallejo. Thurber did so in a big way, and the offense kept on rolling in a 6-0 victory at People’s Home Equity Ballpark.
Thurber pitched 6 shutout innings to earn his seventh victory of the season. Thurber now leads the staff in wins, and is 6-2 overall as a starter. Thurber limited the Admirals to four hits and struck out five. Kida De La Cruz picked up the loss for the Admirals.
The Stompers got their offense going in the third inning with two extra base hits. Randy Santiesteban hit a solo shot into left center field to get the Stompers on the board. Later in the inning, Scott David launched a double into left center field to score Matt Hibbert to give the Stompers a 2-0 advantage. David kept his hot streak alive with a 3 for 5 night at the plate. David has at least one single in all five games he played in with Sonoma. Santiesteban was also 2 for 3 with a walk and 2 driven in.
Ryan Richardson, and Sean Conroy finished things off with three scoreless innings out of the pen. Richardson has been a solid addition since joining the team on August 5 and has only allowed 3 earned runs in 11 2/3 innings pitched. Conroy also appeared for the second time since he was activated from the inactive list on August 17 and pitched a scoreless ninth getting a strikeout to end the game on a nasty slider.
The Stompers (44-29, 20-13 second half) got a little bit of help from the Pittsburg Diamonds as they defeated the San Rafael Pacifics (39-34, 18-16 second half) 6-3 at City Park Field Tuesday night. That San Rafael loss combined with the Game 1 victory gives Sonoma a three game lead in the second half standings over the Pacifcs with only five games to play in the regular season.
The Series against the Admirals continues Wednesday with Juan Espinosa facing off against Marquis Hutchinson. Hutchinson got knocked around in his last start on August 17 against the Stompers as ten runs (five earned) crossed the plate in five innings of work. It was the second largest run total Hutchinson had allowed this season. It will be a tough task to slow down the Stomper offense as they have averaged over eleven runs a game over their five game winning streak.
Tickets for the final two games of the regular season are available on StompersBaseball.com. Tickets and fan merchandise are also available inside The Fan Shop located at 234 West Napa Street in downtown Sonoma. For more information about the team, contact the Stompers front office at info@stompersbaseball.com.