Facing their rivals from Marin County, the San Rafael Pacifics, the Sonoma Stompers had a tremendous weekend run that put them once again alone at the top of the Pacific Association standings.
With six games this week against the Pacifics, the Stompers took three of the last four games to win the home-and-home weeklong series, taking their first series of the year at San Rafael’s Albert Park in the process.
The great run for the Stompers began on Thursday as they won the rubber match of their Arnold Field series with the Pacifics, 8-6.
The Stompers unveiled a new strategy in the game by going to ace reliever Sean Conroy early, as he replaced Matt Walker with no outs in the fifth as opposed to his normal closer’s role. With a 7-3 lead when he entered, Conroy’s job was to hold off a Pacifics team that had won six of their last eight against the Stompers.
Things got close after Matt Chavez hit a three-run homer for the Pacifics to make it 7-6, but an insurance run thanks to a Matt Hibbert RBI single in the eighth set the stage for the drama of the ninth.
Chavez, by far the league’s best hitter, came to the plate as the go-ahead run with two outs against Conroy, but swung and missed on a fastball down-and-in to end the game, giving Sonoma their first series win of the season over the Pacifics.
Joel Carranza started his big weekend a day early, smacking two doubles in the game and bringing home three runs. Hibbert and Gered Mochizuki each had three hits, as all but one player for the Stompers had at least one hit in the game.
When the scene shifted to Albert Park on Friday, it was more of the same for the Pacifics when they’ve hosted the Stompers this season. Thanks to yet another home run from Chavez and an early six runs against Stompers starter Eric Schwieger, the Pacifics rolled to an 11-4 victory to make Sonoma 1-5 at Albert Park this season.
Sonoma did get a good game at the plate again from Carranza, as he hit his seventh home run of the season in the losing effort. Gered Mochizuki added two more hits.
On Saturday, Sonoma answered with an offensive performance that hadn’t been seen in the history of the franchise.
The Stompers had scored 17 runs in a game before and rapped out 20 hits, but never in the same game. A player had five hits and drove in seven runs, but again, never in the same game. In one fell swoop, four team records were tied as the Stompers blew out the Pacifics, 17-5.
Carranza, who went 5-for-6 with two three-run homers, four runs scored and seven runs driven in, tied the individual records in a game where the entire lineup made a statement about bouncing back from a frustrating loss.
Kristian Gayday went 4-for-5 and was a home run shy of a natural cycle, just missing out on what would have been another historic event in Saturday’s game. Newcomer and former San Francisco Giants farmhand Brennan Metzger went 3-for-5 with four runs scored.
Hibbert and Mochizuki each had two hits, as did Yuki Yasuda. For Mochizuki, it was his fourth consecutive multi-hit game and his 13th straight game with a base hit.
The pitching star for the Stompers was Gregory Paulino, who threw seven innings and allowed seven hits, two runs and two walks with five strikeouts. It was his third straight start of at least seven innings, and he has allowed two or fewer runs in each of those starts.
Sunday’s matinee featured another attempt at the Conroy fireman strategy with Sonoma leading 4-3 in the fifth, but Chavez struck again for another home run, as his two-run shot gave the Pacifics the lead.
However, the Stompers didn’t stop moving forward, as Isaac Wenrich and Carranza each hit solo home runs to give Sonoma back the lead and Conroy did the rest, holding off two late Pacifics charges to give Sonoma a 6-5 victory.
The eighth saw the Pacifics get a runner on third with one out, but Carranza struck out the next two batters and was visibly fired up as he left the field.
The ninth inning brought even more drama. A leadoff walk by Zack Pacce led to a Danny Gonzalez sacrifice bunt by the Pacifics to put the tying run in scoring position, but that left first base open as Chavez came to the plate. It was an easy decision to intentionally walk Chavez, even as the go-ahead run.
Conroy got Maikel Jova to fly out to center for the second out on the very first pitch to bring up Jeremy Williams. After a nine pitch war, Conroy threw one of his patented sliders and got Williams to swing and miss, ending a successful week for the Stompers.
Besides Carranza (2-for-4, HR) and Wenrich (2-for-3, HR, 2 BB, 3 RBI, 2 R), Sonoma got a great day at the plate from Hibbert as well, as he went 2-for-5 with two runs scored.
With a one game lead over the Pittsburg Diamonds in the Pacific Association second half standings, the Stompers will be on the road beginning this evening for a three game set with the Diamonds. Mike Jackson, Jr. is the probable starter tonight, with Walker set to start tomorrow night and Schwieger on Thursday.
Sonoma returns home on Friday, July 31, to begin four games in three days with the Diamonds, including a doubleheader on Saturday.
Tickets are available online at StompersBaseball.com or at the Stompers Fan Shop at 234 W. Napa St. For more information, call 326-5040.
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