Sonoma Stompers take two from Pittsburg to get back on course

After dropping two straight to Vallejo, the Stompers took it out on the Pittsburg Diamonds with solid wins.|

The Sonoma Stompers made up for a rough couple games last week in Vallejo by sweeping the Pittsburg Diamonds in a two-game series, including their third extra-inning win of a busy week of Pacific Association baseball.

During the first game of a weekend series on Saturday, June 30, the Stompers strung together 10 hits en route to the team’s third recent extra-inning win, a 9-6 final over the Diamonds.

Sonoma and Pittsburg battled back and forth all night long, exchanging the lead multiple times from the first pitch. The Diamonds toughed it out for a 6-5 lead as the ninth began, but Rob DeAngelis led off the top of the inning with a solo home run, the first of his professional career, to tie the game and force extra innings.

“I was looking for a good pitch to hit and I got it early,” DeAngelis said. “We knew something was brewing, we were excited.”

It was one of DeAngelis’ three hits on the night, with Daniel Comstock, Kenny Meimerstorf and Rayson Romero all notching two in the game.

Playing past the ninth for the fourth time in the last seven days, Sonoma wasted no time jumping out on top, as Meimerstorf scored on a wild pitch and Romero singled in Miles Williams and Kevin Farley to put the Stompers on top 9-6, a lead the Diamonds couldn’t surmount in their half of the tenth.

Sunday’s game gave the Stompers the chance to make up for the two games lost to Vallejo, and make up they did, topping Pittsburg 7-2 for their second sweep over the Diamonds this year.

Nathan Gibbons went seven innings for the third time this season, striking out five hitters while allowing just two runs.

“Today I was really mixing my pitches well,” Gibbons said. “It was good to get the win today, to end the week 4-2. It was good to get a nine-inning win today and come back strong next week.”

It took a few innings for the offense to get rolling, but by the fourth a run-scoring double from Williams and an RBI single from Farley – the two heroes of Saturday’s extra-inning win – gave Sonoma a 2-1 lead.

Though Pittsburg tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, the Stompers put away the game in the fifth when Daniel Comstock and Kenny Meimerstorf crushed back-to-back home runs to bring in three and send the score to 5-2.

Two more runs came in the fifth on a single by Comstock.

With Gibbons working effectively on the mound, seven runs was more than enough for Sonoma to pull out the victory.

Now six games above .500, the Stompers took off Monday but will start a six-game home stand at Arnold Field Tuesday, meeting the San Rafael Pacifics for a one-game series tonight, followed by a Fourth of July game against the Vallejo Admirals on Wednesday. A pair of two-game series against Napa and Martinez follow.

To purchase Stompers tickets and learn more about the team, visit stompersbaseball.com.

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