By Jordan Kimball, Beat Writer
For Sonoma, it was a regular game. For San Francisco, it was a matter of revenge. The Stompers had won the last two games in the teams’ season series. One was 14-3 dominance. The other was nearly a repeat, a 14-0 win one day later.
The Seagulls weren’t just hungry. They were relentless, finding ways to defeat Sonoma in any way they could. Would it be from pitching? From offense? For San Francisco, it was from both. The Seagulls outhit Sonoma by three. The notched more double plays. They found ways to win in all facets of the game.
For the Stompers (18-13, 15-11 CCL), it was a 6-4 defeat. For San Francisco, it was a step in the right direction. One that was highly significant in the Seagulls’ now 6-18 league record.
“Our hitters were caring too much about the results,” Sonoma manager Zack Pace said postgame. “We gotta try not to care so much about the results and care more about the process.”
The Stompers have been quiet on offense lately. After recent wins over the Crawdads and Legends, the Seagulls gave Sonoma problems. An early lead has been the answer to most of the Stompers’ issues. On Thursday, it wasn't.
In the first inning, Sonoma jumped ahead. Trent Keys grounded out to score Cameron Hegamin. McCann Libby then reached on an error to plate Nic Sebastiani. The 2-0 lead was comforting, especially with David Howard — whose birthday was Thursday — on the mound.
Howard’s been a flame thrower, not allowing an earned run since June 6. In that loss, Howard’s opponent hit .231. Since then, his opposition has hit a measly .171. Howard looked to stay hot on Thursday. Unfortunately for the Stompers, his consistency lacked.
Lifted by a sacrifice fly from Mac Galvin and a single from Ben Coke, San Francisco bounced back and tied things up. Even with Sonoma once in front, it was all the Seagulls from there. Josh Hanson blasted a two-run home run off of newly-acquired Cal Amborn on the mound.
The two-run lead wasn’t too decisive, but in the seventh, Coke doubled to add to San Francisco’s lead. Galvin and Derek Waldvogel were sent to the plate to extend it to four.
With little life left, the Stompers attempted to come back. Colton Boardman walked to score Esteban Sepulveda in the ninth. Keys plated Trevor Schlafer soon after to cut the lead in half. But it was far too little to jump ahead and end victorious.
“We’re gonna be where we need to be,” Pace said. “We need to flush it because baseball, if you’re gonna play in this game, you’re gonna grind yourself out, and we have to flush today’s loss.”