Coming off their third straight Pacific Association of Professional Baseball League series win, the Sonoma Stompers Baseball Club announced the Tuesday signings of middle-infielder Glenn Walker and pitcher Roman Martinez before opening its second home stand of the season hosting the Vallejo Admirals at Arnold Field.
Sonoma's signings of Walker and Martinez come on the heels of losing shortstop Aritz Garcia and starting pitcher Will Krout for the remainder of the 2014 campaign.
Garcia will return to his native Spain to play for a European Professional team, while Krout, who was the winning pitcher in Stompers' inaugural home opener, has retired from baseball to begin a career with the San Diego Police Force.
The 23-year-old Walker, out of Jackson State University, where he stole 40 out of the 49 bases he attempted, recently played for the Fort Worth Cats of United League Baseball (2014) and recorded a slugging and on base plus slugging percentages of .333 and .600, respectively.
Beginning his professional career in 2003 after being drafted by the Seattle Mariners, Martinez spent five years in Seattle’s farm system (2003-2008) beginning with Seattle’s rookie ball team in the Arizona League, before playing with three different Single A level Mariners’ affiliates.
Martinez, who played four years in Single A before moving to Double A, most recently pitched for the Hawaii Stars of the North American Baseball League, where he struck out 33 batters in 32 innings pitched, while walking only 14.
In eight minor league seasons, Martinez has a career ERA of 4.68 with 306 strikeouts over 340.1 innings pitched, while only giving up 130 walks.
In Tuesday night's opener of the three-game home series against Vallejo, Sonoma's defensive lapses enabled the Admirals to build a 5-2 lead on their way to 5-3 win.
On Wednesday, the Stompers evened the three-game set at one apiece when they loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth and snared an 8-7 victory when Matt Hibbert was hit with the first pitch of his at-bat to force home the winning run.
Just an inning earlier, Jayce Ray walked with the bases loaded to pick up the game-tying RBI for the Stompers, as Yuki Sakama earned his third win of the season pitching the final 1-1/3 innings.
Sonoma's first-ever home run at Arnold Field came off the bat of Joel Carranza and landed just inside the left field foul pole in the third inning, after-which he homered to right field, with the Admirals collecting three solo home runs in the warm weather.
Leading the Stompers were Carranza's two homers (seven total), three RBIs and two runs scored; Walker's two-for-three, including a double, an RBI and a run; T.J. Gavlik's two-for-five with two runs; Jaime Del Valle's two-for-four; Ray's single, two RBIs, a run and his 16th stolen base; Hibbert's single and two RBIs; Manny Ramirez's single; and Reid Chenworth's two runs.
Pacing Sonoma in its Tuesday loss to the Admirals were Ray's two-for-four, including a double, RBI and run; Walker's two-for-four including a double; Ramirez's two-for-four; Andrew Parker's double and run; Hibbert's single and RBI; and Chenworth and Gavlik's single each.
The Stompers, who wrapped up their series with the Vallejo Admirals yesterday – results not available at presstime – begin another three-game home series at 7:05 p.m. tonight at Arnold Field, with the Pittsburg Mettle in town for a three-game set.
Game and season tickets for Sonoma Stompers’ home games at Arnold Field can be purchased at stompersbaseball.com or eventbrite.com/e/2014-sonoma-stompers-season-tickets-33-home-games-tickets-11232656177.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: