Stompers home for 4th of July

The Sonoma Stompers will be at home this weekend and will take on a major role during Sonoma’s nationally renowned Fourth of July celebration on Saturday.|

The Sonoma Stompers will be at home this weekend and will take on a major role during Sonoma’s nationally renowned Fourth of July celebration on Saturday.

After taking part in the annual Fourth of July parade that morning, the Stompers will head up First Street West to Arnold Field that evening for the second game of their three-game series with the defending Pacific Association champion San Rafael Pacifics.

The first pitch is set for 5:05 p.m. and after the game the fans in attendance will be welcomed onto the grounds of Arnold Field to take in the city’s spectacular fireworks show that will begin around 9:30 p.m.

While the Saturday showdown with the Pacifics is the highlight of the weekend, the Stompers will also play games on Friday and Sunday to wrap up a weeklong series against San Rafael.

Friday’s game will start at 6:05 p.m. while Sunday’s afternoon matinee will begin at 1:05. The Sunday game will be a seven-inning affair and is part of a unique day/night home and home doubleheader, as the two teams will travel to San Rafael later that evening for a second seven-inning game at Albert Park at 6:05.

Fans who attend the Sunday matinee will have their tickets honored at the second game that day in San Rafael, as well. The gates will open one hour before first pitch for each game.

Tickets can be purchased online at StompersBaseball.com, at the Stompers Fan Shop located at 234 W. Napa St., and at the Arnold Field gates beginning one hour before any home game.

•••

Earlier this week, Sonoma traveled to San Rafael for a trio of road games against the defending champs and did not fare well in their first two matchups.

On Wednesday evening, Stompers starter Gregory Paulino’s stretch of good outings came to an end thanks to a three-run first inning as San Rafael took an early lead they would never relinquish on their way to a 7-1 victory over Sonoma.

It was the biggest loss of the season for the Stompers, who lost three straight games for the first time in 2015. They have yet to win a game at Albert Park this season (0-3).

In Tuesday’s game, Sonoma saw a late lead evaporate due to two runs from the Pacifics in the eighth inning and lost the opener of the series, 5-4. Southpaw starter Eric Schwieger had a quality start but took a no-decision after 6-2/3 innings. The Nebraska native allowed only three runs and struck out five.

Former SVHS and Sonoma State star Fehlandt Lentini was sensational in both games, going 3-for-5 on Tuesday with two RBIs and hitting a solo homer in Wednesday’s game to plate Sonoma’s only run. The player-manager is now tied for the team lead in home runs with five and he’s hitting .308 with a team-leading 26 RBIs.

Slugging first baseman Joel Carranza continued his hot-hitting ways with three hits on Tuesday and two on Wednesday, giving him five multi-hit performances over his last eight games. He has raised his batting average from .242 to .323 over that stretch.

Sonoma played the Pacifics in San Rafael on Thursday night with the results not available at press time. Going into the road finale, Sonoma was a league-best 18-6 on the season, five games better than second place San Rafael (13-11) in the Pacific Association.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.