Stompers prepare for season finale

After dominating the first two months of the Pacific Association season, the Sonoma Stompers are now battling for a chance to host the league’s title game on Monday, Aug. 31, when they take on the San Rafael Pacifics.

Thanks to numerous players being called up to higher leagues in independent baseball, along with a few players leaving to pursue other careers, the Stompers have seen their seemingly insurmountable lead diminished to only a half game over the Pacifics for the best overall record.

With Thursday’s result of their regular season home finale not available at presstime, the Stompers will face off against the Pacifics in San Rafael on Friday with homefield advantage on the line.

Earlier this week, the Stompers hosted the Pittsburg Diamonds and rode a stellar pitching performance from Sean Conroy on Tuesday to a 10-2 victory. Wednesday’s game wasn’t nearly as good for starter Mike Jackson, Jr. as the Stompers fell short of a comeback with an 11-8 loss.

Tuesday, thanks to five hits in the third and seven hits in the fourth, the Stompers put up nine of their team’s runs across 18 batters, with 11 alone coming to the plate in the fourth. The Stompers had seven straight players reach base against Diamonds starter Barrett Phillips, chasing him from the game after 3-1/3 innings.

Yuki Yasuda and Daniel Baptista each had three hits, with Baptista driving home three runs. Mark Hurley, Taylor Eads and Oakland-based newcomer Eddie Mora-Loera each had two hits. Sonoma had 12 hits in the first four innings, with 11 of the hits going to the opposite field.

Conroy was terrific in his start, throwing six shutout innings with only four hits allowed and five strikeouts. The sidewinding right-hander from Clifton Park, New York, earned his fifth win of the season and lowered his ERA to 2.70.

In Wednesday’s loss, the Diamonds sent 13 hitters to the plate in the first inning against Jackson and had eight hits, a walk and a hit batter, as eight runs came across to give the Diamonds their biggest lead of the season at Arnold Field.

Yet the Stompers found a way to bounce back and after some great rallies in the middle innings, made it a 9-8 game heading to the seventh inning. However, the Stompers couldn’t push ahead the go-ahead run, with the Diamonds tacking on two more in the ninth to put the game away.

Yasuda, Baptista, Hurley and Gered Mochizuki each had two hits on the evening, with Hurley and Yasuda each walking two times, as well.

Tonight, Sonoma travels to San Rafael for what they hope will be a three-game series with the Pacifics, as this weekend at Albert Park will see both teams fight to host the Pacific Association title game. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m., with the Saturday game at 5 p.m. and a Sunday matinee at 1 p.m.