Stompers close to clinching

Going into Thursday night’s game against the Vallejo Admirals, the Sonoma Stompers magic number to clinch an outright championship was two. Any combination of two Sonoma wins or two San Rafael losses would give the Stompers the Pacific Association championship.

If Sonoma wins the title outright, the season ends Sunday. At worst, there could be a one-game playoff Monday night between the Stompers and the San Rafael Pacifics which the Stompers would host.

Sonoma could have cut the margin to one on Wednesday, but Vallejo would have none of that and beat the Stompers 8-5.

The Stompers entered the second game of the series against the Admirals with a ton of confidence having won five straight contests. But two powerful swings off the bat by Vallejo ended the streak.

Possibly the biggest swing of the night came in the seventh for Vallejo when Joe Hicks launched a three run home run to extend the lead to 8-2. Sonoma rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh but the three-run shot by Hicks proved to be the difference in the game.

The home run by Hicks came in a two-strike count with two outs off of Jose Flores. The Admirals second home run came in the third on a two run blast by Patrick Moriarty in a three run inning for the Admirals off Juan Espinosa. The home run by Moriarty was also on a two-strike pitch. Espinosa did not have his best stuff Wednesday allowing four runs and four walks in 5 2/3 innings.

Despite Vallejo’s good night at the plate, the Stomper offense missed a few opportunities to score more runs than they did. Marquis Hutchinson allowed four runs on six hits and six walks in six innings. But two double-play balls killed off Stomper rally.The Stompers also stranded 10 runners on base. Derrick Fox and Mark Hurley were the only Stomper hitters to finish with multiple hits. Hurley was two-for-four, and Fox was two-for-three with two walks.

Tuesday, Taylor Thurber, the ace of the Stompers pitching staff was on the mound looking to bounce back from a rough outing in his last start on Aug. 17 in Vallejo. Thurber did so in a big way, and the offense kept on rolling in a 6-0 victory.

Thurber pitched six shutout innings to earn his seventh victory of the season. Thurber now leads the staff in wins, and is 6-2 overall as a starter. Thurber limited the Admirals to four hits and struck out five. Kida De La Cruz picked up the loss for the Admirals.

The Stompers got their offense going in the third inning with two extra base hits. Randy Santiesteban hit a solo shot into left center field to get the Stompers on the board. Later in the inning, Scott David launched a double into left center field to score Matt Hibbert to give the Stompers a 2-0 advantage. David kept his hot streak alive with a three-for-five night at the plate. David has at least one single in all five games he played in with Sonoma. Santiesteban was also two-for-three with a walk and two RBIs.

Ryan Richardson, and Sean Conroy finished things off with three scoreless innings out of the pen. Richardson has been a solid addition since joining the team on Aug. 5 and has only allowed three earned runs in 11 2/3 innings pitched. Conroy also appeared for the second time since he was activated from the inactive list on Aug. 17 and pitched a scoreless ninth getting a strikeout to end the game on a nasty slider.

After Wednesday’s game, the Stompers held a three-game lead over the Pacifics in the second half of the season – and have a five-game lead when one includes the first half.

This is the last weekend of the season, and the Stompers will finish out the season with a three-game road trip to San Rafael. Friday night’s game is at 7 p.m., while there’s a 6 p.m. start Saturday and a 1 p.m. start on Sunday.