Stompers torpedo Admirals

As we go to press the Sonoma Stompers are poised to make their first three-game sweep of the season – unusual, because this year's schedule has only one three-game series, and that one is split between the home field of the two teams: Vallejo on Tuesday and Wednesday, Sonoma on Thursday night.

(UPDATE: The Stompers made good on their poise and defeated the Admirals for the third straight time Thursday night, 5-1. It's the team's ninth win in a row at home, and puts them three games up on the second-place Pacifics!)

For the past two games the Stompers have been playing in Vallejo, and took Wednesday's game with the largest shutout score in league history, an 18-0 shellacking of the Admirals.

It provided some measure of retribution over the Admirals, who defeated the Stompers in last year's one-game playoff for the Pacific Association league championship by an 11-8 score.

The two-game series in Vallejo went Sonoma's direction from the outset, as Kenny Mathews, making his fifth start with the Stompers, retired the first 17 Vallejo batters he faced on Tuesday, Aug. 14, taking a perfect game into the sixth inning.

He was dominant from the outset: in the first three innings he struck out seven, including whiffing the sides in the second and third. He ended up with 11 SOs on the night, while not allowing any walks.

The Stompers offense backed their starter early with a three-run third inning, with Kenny Meimerstorf driving in Kevin Farley and Daniel Baptista scoring Kam Stewart. Meimerstorf himself came across with two outs on an error.

The Admirals finally struck for two hits and a run with two outs in the sixth, then added one in the seventh when Nick Akins Sr. led off with his 24th home run, best in the league.

But the two runs didn't threaten the lead, as the Stompers added on in the fourth and Mathews left the game up 5-2, the final score. Both DJ Sharabi and Jacob Cox pitched three-up, three-down innings in relief, and Cox got the save, his 20th.

The Stompers lineup lit up the Wilson Park scoreboard from the get-go in Wednesday night's game, scoring six runs in the first inning – the first of four times the team batted around the lineup.

Stewart launched a two-run home run to kick things off, then Baptista brought Meimerstorf home, Brock Hartley singled in two and Rayson Romero drove in his first of three runs in the game with the first of his two doubles on the night.

The 18 runs and 20 hits were both single-game highs for the team as a whole this season. Ten different Stompers recorded hits, with six connecting for more than one.

Nine players drove in at least one run and eight Stompers scored, including Brock Hartley, who set a team record by becoming the first player to score five runs in a game.

Hartley broke out to go 3-4 on the day with three runs batted in, including a two-run single in the first and a solo home run that led off the sixth inning. The outfielder has played in the last four games, since his signing on Aug. 11.

'In the first couple of games, I just wasn't there and couldn't contribute to the team,' Hartley said. 'I'm glad today that I got to contribute, got to show my true colors. Glad we got the W in a big way.'

The Stompers augmented their six-run first with two four-run innings, in the third and seventh, and scored one in the sixth and three in the eighth.

While the offense made nearly all of the storylines, Vijay Patel pitched a gem for his team, throwing seven shutout innings on just four hits and one walk with 10 strikeouts.

'It was just competing down in the zone and hitting spots,' Patel said. 'If you take a pitch off with (the Admirals) they'll take advantage and it can become four runs like no other, they've got some good guys on the team. So it's not taking a pitch off, winning every pitch and trusting an 18-run lead they gave me, it's amazing.

Patel picked up his seventh win of the season, which now leads the team in wins.

Following Thursday night's game (results too late for press time), the Stompers welcome the Pittsburg Diamonds for one and the Martinez Clippers for two for the remainder of the home stand.

As of Thursday, the Stompers led the league, up two games over the San Rafael Pacifics, their nearest and only rival for the championship: the Pittsburg Diamonds are 13 games back, the Admirals 14.

First pitch at Arnold Field on Friday and Saturday is 6:05 p.m., Sunday's day game begins at 1:05 p.m.

For tickets and more information, visit stompersbaseball.com.

Nicholas Badders of the Stompers contributed to this report.