By Jordan Kimball, Beat Writer
After scoring 17 runs against the Legends on Saturday, the Stompers repeated and scored 17 more against the Merchants on Sunday to take sole possession of first place in the CCL North entering the league’s all-star break.
Fifteen-plus runs in one game may take luck. But against a stronger opponent and for the second straight night, it indicates much more than that. The Stompers’ offense has been shaky down the stretch, putting up two and three runs on Thursday and Friday against the Leghorns and Crawdads.
Then came demolition. Sonoma’s offense exploded for 17 runs Saturday against the Legends. While it took an 11-0 lead through three innings, Menlo Park clawed back to cut its deficit to as low as four, which ultimately resulted in a 17-13 win for the Stompers.
Sunday was more of the same. But the stakes were higher, and Sonoma’s pitchers turned to silencers to shut down the Merchants. With a convincing 17-1 win, the Stompers (25-15, 20-13) claim sole possession of first place in the CCL North heading into the league’s all-star break.
“They’ve done a good job of getting a good pitch to hit,” Sonoma manager Zack Pace said postgame of his offense. “Yesterday, we had a lot of free passes that really helped us out. And today, we hit a little bit more.”
While the offense rolled through Ball State’s Jaden Bitter on the mound for Alameda, Jayden Harper cruised through his first five-inning outing of the summer. When Harper pitches, good things happen. It’s been displayed in the Stompers’ four wins prior to Sunday on Harper-bump days.
The one time Sonoma lost with Harper on the rubber, he allowed a run. If the Stompers wanted to stay hot entering the break, Harper would need to be nearly perfect. He did just that, but the first inning was a challenge.
Sitting with a three-run cushion, Harper had room to work. Colton Boardman had walked before Max Handron followed up his five-hit day on Saturday with a two-run home run to give Sonoma an early lead. McCann Libby — in his final game of the summer — then singled, and Heeryun Han drove him in with a base hit.
In one instant, however, the lead looked like it’d disappear. After recording a quick out on Dominick Najar, Jack Bollengier singled, Jackson Nystrom walked and Aidan Taclas was hit by a pitch. Matteo Mendoza — who carried a .932 OPS and .320 batting average entering Sunday — was at the plate. But despite Mendoza’s statistics, Harper struck him out on five pitches.
Then, with Chase Ditmar up and one strike, the Merchants began to run. Shuffling his feet, Bollengier was gunned by catcher Connor Pawlowski at third, getting Harper out of the jam.
The last play fired up Sonoma’s offense. It added to its lead again with Boardman singling, Handron walking and Libby driving both in with his second base hit of the day. Paul Lizzul then singled, taking Bitter out of the game.
After a 1-2-3 inning from Harper, the Stompers stalled. Reliever Luke Giotta surrendered a leadoff single to Han but shut down Pawlowski, Trent Keys and Cam Hegamin. In the fourth, though, Sonoma saw a completely different Giotta.
He struggled to find his spots, working up his pitch count, and the Stompers pounced. After Boardman popped out, Handron singled — his third time reaching base. Lizzul was hit, and Brady Shannon continued his tear, annihilating a three-run home run to extend Sonoma’s lead and stand atop the CCL with five long balls.
“It’s huge to have that big threat in the middle of the order. He can be dangerous with any swing,” Pace said. “At any time, he can do that. It’s really good to get (Shannon) going.”
Nick Fenton replaced Giotta, but he wasn’t any better. Han recorded his third single. Pawlowski advanced him to third with another base hit. Keys then kept it going with a third straight knock to plate Han. Fenton’s faltered command allowed Pawlowski and Keys to steal home, giving the Stompers an 11-0 lead through four innings.
Harper’s day was done after the fifth. Justin Jones, making just his fourth appearance of the summer, shut down Alameda with three strikeouts in the sixth. He struck out two more in the seventh, finishing with five Ks in two innings of work.
Chris Albee replaced Jones in the eighth and gave up the Merchants’ lone run of the day. Hayden Jung-Goldberg walked before Kaleb Latimer tripled to score him. But that was all Alameda would get, as its next two hitters were retired and Braden Guentz went 1-2-3 in the ninth to close things out.
While the Stompers’ staff excelled, their offense added more to the scoreboard. Hegamin singled in the sixth to score Shannon and Keys. Boardman then doubled to plate Hegamin, and Handron followed it up with a base hit to bring in Boardman — Sonoma’s 15th run of the game.
“He does a really good job of taking pitches that might be borderline pitches and just being on time to a pitch middle of the plate,” Pace said of Handron.
Sonoma hit through its order in the frame, scored one in the seventh on a Boardman base hit and one more in the eighth on a knock from Pawlowski.
After losing three of their first four matchups against the Merchants, the Stompers have won the last three and take the season series. Now, they head into a weeklong break before taking on the Crawdads Friday.
“Really proud of our guys. We’re hitting the right buttons and playing our best,” Pace said. “Hopefully, we can keep it rolling into next weekend.”