By Jordan Kimball
After Sonoma’s 9-0 loss to the San Francisco Seagulls on Friday, most of its players sulked as they walked off the field.
Rightfully so.
The Stompers didn’t notch their first hit until the seventh inning and were shut out in their series opener after allowing a six-run fourth. Following the defeat, hitting coach Paul Maytorena gathered the team after batting practice before the Stomps’ rematch the next day.
The meeting served as a chance to regroup, refocus and most importantly, hold each other accountable. The result was a dominant 14-3 win, where comments from the pregame meeting had been addressed and executed.
After the game, Stompers manager Zack Pace said he felt Sunday’s rubber match would be a “dog fight.” He expected a close game given the pure dominance from both sides thus far.
However, he couldn’t have been more wrong. But for Pace, in the best way possible. Sonoma (6-5, 3-3 CCL) absolutely demolished the Seagulls 14-0 Sunday, claiming its first CCL series win after it looked out of reach Friday.
The Stompers’ bats were hitting. Their arms were causing whiffs. And for anyone unaware of what sport was being played, they would’ve thought the Sonoma Stompers was a football team.
“That's the great thing about this game. Every day's brand new. I was expecting a dog fight today after the two blowouts,” Pace said postgame. “But we filled up the zone and they didn't as much as us, and we hit and they didn’t.”
With Justin Jones on the mound for Sonoma, uncertainty surrounded the first inning. Last Sunday against the Alameda Anchors, Jones pitched one inning and allowed four runs. But in heroic fashion, Heeryun Han sent the Stompers home happy with a walk-off single.
Entering Sunday, Sonoma had shown in its last few games it can’t get down early. For the Stompers to win Game 3, Jones had to silence any doubters that remained from his previous performance — and San Francisco’s bats. He did just that.
Jones ended the day after three innings of scoreless baseball. He allowed just one hit, struck out four batters and walked two, propelling the Stompers into the driver’s seat before they even got their first at-bats.
And when they did, they capitalized. After newly-appointed leadoff man Colton Boardman opened the first inning with a double, Anthony Scheppler laid down a bunt to move him 90 feet further. From there, Landon Akers walked, and McCann Libby started the scoring after his sacrifice fly brought Boardman home.
The sequence wasn’t as emphatic as Sonoma’s six-run first inning Saturday. But with Jones’ command, one run proved to be more than enough.
After a 1-2-3 first inning, Jones issued two walks in the second. Still, when it mattered most — with the Seagulls in scoring position — he did his job to keep the Stompers in front.
“He’s a great arm. He has a really good fastball,” Pace said. “He competes. He does a lot of good things on the mound to control the running game. I was really pleased with him and look forward to seeing him out there next time.”
In the third inning, Sonoma extended its lead. It had run San Francisco starter Ben Eisenhauer out of the game, who was replaced by Maxwell McGrady. McGrady knew the Stompers all too well. Similar to Eisenhauer, McGrady was also taken out of his start after pitching just 0.2 innings Saturday.
The Stompers had attacked him then, and they planned to attack him again. Scheppler immediately reached base on an error, moving to second on the same play. Akers then singled to score Scheppler before Libby kept the rally going with an RBI single. An Esteban Sepulveda fielder’s choice scored Libby — Sonoma’s final run of the inning, but that wouldn’t be its last time crossing home.
In the fourth, the Stompers added two. In the fifth, they scored four more. The sixth saw one run. And the seventh featured the final three.
The Stompers’ offense couldn’t cool down. It tallied 11 hits and forced two errors. Brady Shannon secured his first two hits of the summer, one a 385-foot triple into deep centerfield. Everything went right for Sonoma. It couldn’t have gone worse for San Francisco.
After McGrady’s three-run 0.0-inning outing, the Seagulls relied on position players to fill their holes. Jackson Landry allowed two runs. Ben Resnick surrendered four. And Jackson Schefsky gave up the final four.
The Stompers had done it in momentous fashion. They had obliterated San Francisco’s pitching. Their arms held their own. And it’s a nice way for the Stompers to enter a two-day break ahead of a game in Alameda on Wednesday.
“I thought our guys did a really good job. Proud of the way we split the weekend, and hopefully we can go out and win next week,” Pace said.
As mentioned, Sonoma will take the field Wednesday in Alameda against the Merchants as it looks to build off its football-like performance. First pitch is slated for 6:05 p.m.