The Sonoma Valley High baseball Dragons Tuesday, blew a 3-0 lead over Analy, and lost 6-3 in nine innings.
The Dragons wasted another great effort by senior pitcher Carson Snyder who struck out 13, walked three, gave up only one hit and didn’t give up an earned run in the seven innings he hurled. Snyder has struck out 45 batters in his last 19 innings.
Sonoma struck first with a run in the third when junior Dylan Samaniego singled, took second on a strikeout and scored when sophomore Logan Mak singled.
Meanwhile Snyder was mowing down the Tigers with two strikeouts in each of the first three innings.
The Dragons put two more on the board in the bottom of the third when senior Ethan Vitale doubled and scored when sophomore Max Handron dropped down a sacrifice bunt and the Analy pitcher threw the ball into deep foul territory trying to get Vitale at third. Handron later scored on another Analy error.
But the Dragons had a 3-0 lead.
Snyder walked a batter and hit a batter in the fourth, but they were left stranded.
The Tigers tied the game in the fifth on three unearned runs when they loaded the bases on a double and two walks and, with two outs, they all scored when a fly ball popped out of Samaniego’s glove in deep right-center field.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Dragons had runners on first and second with two outs, but couldn’t score.
Sonoma Coach Don Lyons had to pull Snyder after the seventh inning because of the pitch count.
Junior Joe Perez came in in relief in the top of the eighth and set the Tigers down in order. But he wasn’t as fortunate in the top of the ninth when Analy scored three runs on two singles, a walk, a fielder’s choice and an error. And all of a sudden the Dragons were looking at a three-run deficit.
Sonoma managed to load the bases in the bottom of the ninth when, with one out, senior Eric Bailey reached on an error, senior Japhy Koch singled and Mak walked. But it was all for naught as the third Tiger pitcher of the night got a strikeout and a popup to the shortstop to end the game.
The loss drops the Dragons to 10-9 overall and 4-4 in the SCL.
The Dragons finish the regular season on the road with four straight road games – today, Friday, at el Molino, Tuesday at Elsie Allen, Friday, May 5, at Piner, and Friday, May 12, at Healdsburg.
Arnold Field will be the host field for the Sonoma County League Tournament May 16, 17 and 18.
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