By Elakai Anela, Beat Writer
Stompers infielder Misael Uriepero (Youngstown State) stands upright, staring out at the mound. The Caracas, Venezuela native wears his country’s flag on his left arm-sleeve. Uriepero went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, one home run and collected his first two extra base hits of the season Sunday in Sonoma’s 5-2 win over the Alameda Merchants at Arnold Field. Photo Courtesy of Karsen Kadien / Sonoma Stompers
Sonoma, Calif. — Infielder Misael Uriepero went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and hit his first home run of the season Sunday, leading the Sonoma Stompers to a 5-2 victory over the Alameda Merchants at Arnold Field.
Sonoma improved to 8-8 in the California Collegiate League while the Merchants fell to 6-6 in the CCL.
Prior to Saturday’s contest, one where Sonoma fell 3-2 to the Menlo Park Legends, Uriepero said he came to Sonoma to “gain weight and hit for power.” He also stated that his first extra-base hit would “happen soon.”
After Sunday’s victory, the 5-foot-9, 165-pound infielder said he had been “working hard” with the coaching staff on his swing to add power. Uriepero had gone 15 games without recording an extra base hit. He recorded two Sunday.
“It means a lot to me,” Uriepero said. “Since it’s a wood bat, I’ve been struggling. Getting the extra-base hits for the first time feels really good.”
For the second consecutive night, Sonoma opened the scoring. With two runners on base in the third inning, Uriepero hit a double to score infielder Trent Keys (San Joaquin Delta College) from second base. Catcher Angel Garcia (Coppin State), Uriepero’s cousin, advanced to third on the hit.
Stompers starting pitcher right-hander Luke Zmolik (Youngstown State) pitched three scoreless innings and struck out two. After Zmolik left the game, the Merchants responded in the top of the fourth inning by scoring the game-tying run on a double play.
In the fifth inning, the Stompers took the lead.
Garcia hit a sacrifice fly into right field to score Keys. With Uriepero batting, infielder Tino Vasell (University of San Francisco) stole both second and third on back-to-back pitches. Uriepero then launched the two-run long ball to extend the Stompers’ lead.
After the Youngstown State University product rounded the bases, the entire dugout poured out onto the field to celebrate with him.
Uriepero said it “meant a lot” to see the support of his teammates, celebrating with him after the home run.
“I’ve been struggling the past [few] days and they’ve been supporting me a lot,” Uriepero. “Some of those guys were like, ‘a bomb is coming, I can feel it.’ So, this first time I hit it, that’s why everyone was out there.”
Through the first five innings of Sunday’s contest, the Stompers stole three bases. In the previous three contests, Sonoma hadn’t attempted one steal.
Stompers manager Zack Pace said postgame that his team was stealing bases based on the “situation.”
“Our guys did a good job of taking advantage of what the other team was presenting us,” Pace said. “We had opportunities to steal those bags and did a good job to put ourselves into good spots with runners in scoring position.”
In Sonoma’s last two contests, it had gone 5 for 32 with runners in scoring position. During Sunday’s affair, the Stompers went 4 for 11.
“It was a breath of fresh air to see all that today,” Pace said. “Getting hits with runners on hadn’t been happening before today.”
The Merchants didn’t go down quietly. With one out, Alameda loaded the bases and forced Pace to bring in right-handed pitcher Riley Dickey (Modesto Junior College) for his Sonoma debut.
Dickey worked a strikeout and escaped the jam after inducing a flyout to center field. Pace described the outing from Dickey as “big time.”
“To come in and get both your outs there on six pitches, I think it was, and rescue that inning was huge,” Pace said. “That is what you kind of live for.”
Sonoma added another run in the bottom of the frame to push the lead to 5-1. Making his Stomper debut, outfielder Mike Jones (University of San Francisco) drove in Garcia.
The Merchants made it 5-2 in the eighth inning after an RBI double by outfielder Trey Johnson. In the ninth inning with the bases loaded, Merchants infielder Nico Rodriguez grounded out to end the game.
Sonoma right-handed pitcher Devon Laguinto (San Joaquin Delta College) picked up his second save of the year.
The Stompers will have two days off before they hit the road. First pitch will be at 4 p.m. Wednesday against the Walnut Creek Crawdads at Monte Vista High School in Danville, Calif. Sonoma beat the Crawdads 6-4 on June 5 at home in its last meeting.