The Stompers and Leghorns were scoreless until YSU senior Brady Shannon crushed a 341-foot, 3-run homer in the third to power Sonoma to victory.
By Jordan Kimball, Beat Writer
The Stompers were fooled at the beginning of their season. They’d recruited a highly-touted prospect in Brady Shannon. The Youngstown, Ohio, native received attention from MLB teams during his time at Ursuline High School.
He ultimately chose a different route and ended up in Sonoma for summer ball after his junior year at YSU. Expectations were sky-high, as he brings a powerful bat and leadership from being a Division I quarterback. However, Shannon crumbled early on.
He opened the season 0-for-9. His emphatic energy translated into four strikeouts in his first two games. But since then, he’s found his stride. Shannon’s pop has emerged; he’s hitting well over .200, and his OPS ranks third on the team (.813). As of late, Shannon’s turned it up another notch.
Courtesy of his three-run home run in the third inning of Thursday’s non-league matchup with the Leghorns, the Stompers (23-14, 18-12 CCL) scraped by with a 3-2 win. Sonoma’s offense tallied a measly six hits while facing pitchers throwing mid-80s, but one swing from Shannon was all that was needed.
“I think the game just comes and goes sometimes. I’m just trying to slow the game down and have more quality at-bats,” Shannon said postgame. “It’s just baseball.”
The Penguins’ slugger’s third-inning home run marked his second straight game with a long ball. On Wednesday against the Crawdads, Shannon cracked a two-run shot and an RBI double. He now has six hits in his last four games.
Petaluma starter Jack Gurley was dealing heading into the third inning. After surrendering a leadoff double to Heeryun Han in the first, Anthony Scheppler, Shannon and Matthias Haas all went down on strikes. In the second, Gurley’s showing was even more impressive. It took under two minutes for the Santa Barbara City College commit to retire Esteban Sepulveda, Ben Sebastiani and Cam Hegamin.
But after Scheppler’s line-drive single with one out in the following frame, Sonoma’s floodgates opened. Paul Lizzul advanced Scheppler to third on a base hit of his own, and Shannon strolled to the plate. Sitting on Gurley’s offspeed, he roped a 341-foot flyball into left field to break the deadlock.
“He’s seeing the ball a lot better and putting really good swings out there,” Sonoma manager Zack Pace said postgame. “I know he’s been working really hard to get there. If we didn’t have that (home run) today, we don’t win.”
While Shannon’s nuke provided the Stompers with a tiebreaker plus insurance, Brandon Leon was holding his own anyway. The Modesto Junior College freshman struck out seven batters in his four innings.
Leon allowed a scorched single to left field to open the game, but he settled in after that. He picked off Rowan Ball after the base hit and breezed through the rest of the first. The right-handed pitcher went 1-2-3 in the next two innings and nearly repeated in the fourth, just giving up a single to Auggie Cuneo — one of Leon’s two hits allowed.
“He filled up the zone with his fastball and slider. I thought he did an outstanding job,” Pace said. “Really got a groove, and I look forward to more out of him next week.”
When the Stompers score three, their momentum often continues. But when Matthew Knauer relieved Gurley, everything came to a halt. Knauer was throwing slightly faster. His command was momentous, and his low arm slot caught Sonoma’s hitters off guard.
At first, the UCLA commit faltered, hitting Han and Scheppler. But with Hegamin and McCann Libby strikeouts, and Scheppler getting gunned at second, Knauer held the Stompers silent.
His next time out was even more imposing. The recent graduate of Redwood High School forced Lizzul to pop out. Shannon and Haas struck out — two of Knauer’s seven Ks.
The middle innings were an ache for the Stompers. Knauer finished with four no-hit innings while walking just one batter and hitting two.
“We gotta get better. That’s the bottom line,” Pace said. “We gotta be on time to the fastball. If we’re not catching up to 83 or 85, that’s not good.”
The Leghorns scored two in the fifth on a wild pitch from Jaxen Rowland and a single by Henry Stoll. But that was all they’d get. Rowland, Nick Poulus and Patrick Atkinson pitched five innings of relief to close out the win. And with just 10 CCL games to play, everything’s on the line.
“It’s that time of the summer. Bodies are tired. Some guys are banged up,” Shannon said. “But that last 10-game stretch is big. I think we’re on the right path to be where we want at the end of the season.”