By Jordan Kimball, Beat Writer
Max Handron brought a calm and consistent bat to Cal Berkeley’s offense. In 149 games with the Golden Bears, Handron started 137 and hit 24 home runs alongside 90 RBIs. He defied the odds, especially during his time at Santa Rosa Junior College, where he hit .306 across two seasons.
Since 2022, Handron has done the same with the Stompers. He’s been a reliable piece to Sonoma’s offense and brings life to its offense that’s sometimes stalled in his absence over the last two weeks.
In the third inning of the Stompers’ Sunday matchup with the Seagulls, Handron came to the plate. There were two outs, and Sonoma held a firm 6-0 lead. Colton Boardman was on first base, Kieran Baker was on second and Esteban Sepulveda stood on third.
On the first pitch to Handron from newly entered reliever Rhys Appleby, the left-handed hitter smoked a line drive over the right field fence to give the Stompers a double-digit lead. Handron’s grand slam — which counted for his first home run of the summer — put Sonoma (21-13, 17-11 CCL) out of reach, as it went on to rout San Francisco 18-2.
Max Handron’s third-inning grand slam in Sunday’s matchup against the Seagulls gave the Stompers a commanding 10–0 lead, effectively putting the game out of reach.
“I’m really proud of our guys for the way they battle,” Stompers manager Zack Pace said postgame. “They just keep on grinding every day. They’re working their tails off to get better and it shows. I thought we had a really good approach today, and our pitchers did an outstanding job.”
Speaking of Sonoma’s pitching, Handron wasn’t the only one who made a significant impact. After nearly three weeks off in mid-June, Jayden Harper returned to the mound for the Stompers on June 28. Then, he willed them to a 10-5 win over the first-place Crawdads. On Sunday, his stuff took over again.
After the Stompers scored two in the first inning, Harper kept them in front with a quick four-batter inning, just allowing a leadoff single to Josh Hanson. Hanson’s base hit would turn out to be Harper’s only hit allowed, as he struck out six batters and walked just one in four innings of work.
But what made Harper’s outing even more magnificent was his immaculate inning, which came in the second. The left-handed pitcher fanned Justin Sechler on three straight swinging strikes before doing the same to Finn Whalen. Derek Waldvogel went to the dish, but he had no luck either, also falling on three consecutive pitches.
“I think that’s the first one I’ve seen,” Pace said of Harper’s immaculate inning. “That was a pretty cool thing to see. (Harper) did a great job today. Filled it up. Four quality innings. He’s a great arm for us.”
As Harper, Jaden Mason, Christian Klostermann and Justin Jones held it down on the bump, the offense continued to spark. While Handron’s longball marked a turning point in the early innings, Brady Shannon nearly hit for the cycle.
He led off the second inning with a single after battling through 10 pitches. In the third, he added a punch before Handron’s grand slam with a two-run shot of his own. The fourth saw him walk; he tripled in the fifth, which became his last time reaching base.
“It was really good out of him today. He was squaring up balls,” Pace said of Shannon. “I was really happy to see him get back on track. Hopefully, now he gets rolling a little bit.”
Entering Sunday, Esteban Sepulveda was 2-for-21 as of late. He added to Shannon and Handron’s fun with three knocks in four at-bats, also walking twice as a part of the Stompers’ 13 free passes.
With Sonoma’s offense clicking and its pitching dominating, the Seagulls weren’t fighting for a win anymore. They were pushing for their loss to look less painful. And while they scored twice in the seventh behind a Jordan Maske triple and wild pitch, it doesn’t take away the dominance the Stompers showed.
They had six hitters with two-plus hits. They struck out 13 batters. They made just one error. And they tallied 15 total hits, lifting them to a promising second half of their season with four straight weeks won.
“(All games) are big ones, and that’s what we preach to these guys every day,” Pace said. “It’s just about showing up with that same attitude, ready to win.”