Sonoma Valley defeated San Marin in night game at Arnold Field

The 2019 high school baseball season hasn’t even begun league play yet, but the SVHS Dragons are 2-0 following a 5-2 victory over San Marin.|

Following Sonoma Valley’s 4-2 victory over Terra Linda on Feb. 12, the Dragons defeated the San Marin Mustangs 5-2, on Monday, Feb. 18, in a game delayed from the previous Saturday due to the soggy conditions of the playing field.

It was the pre-season opener for the Mustangs, the 2018 NCS division 3 champions, who travelled from Novato to meet the Dragons at Arnold Field. The 6 p.m. start time meant that most of the action took place under the lights.

San Marin scored the first run in the top of the second when Josh Mullineaux-idell reached second base on a fielder’s choice and an error on an attempted double-play. Gino McDuffee singled, to score Mullineaux-idell, giving the Mustangs a 1-0 lead.

After batting through the order without getting on base, the Dragons came alive in the bottom of the fourth as Max Handron led off the inning with a walk off starting pitcher Alex Sheron. Then Tucker Pierce reached base on an error, Anthony Tommasi advanced the runners to second and third, and Dusty Pierce drove in both runners with a flare single to right putting the Dragons up 2-1.

Sonoma’s offense scored three needed insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. San Marin answered with a run in the top of the seventh before Dusty Pierce moved to the mound to get his second save of the season.

“Defeating last year’s NCS champions put us in a great spot moving forward and I can’t wait to keep improving under our amazing new coaching staff,” said Handron, team captain and a 3-year varsity player.

The Dragons needed only four hits to produce the five runs, which they matched with four walks. Handron got two of those hits, and Dusty Pierce got two RBIs as well as the save.

Starting pitcher Joe Costanzo kept the San Marin hitters off balance through the sixth inning. Costanzo got the win, pitching 6 1/3 innings, striking out 8, and allowing only a single earned run. The effort got him a Player of the Game citation from MaxPreps.

The 2019 high school baseball season hasn’t officially begun league play yet, but the SVHS Dragons are 2-0 and, by default, sit atop the Vine Valley standings. The only other VVAL team that has played so far this year is Casa Grande, which lost their non-conference opener 9-6 to Windsor. But league standings are based on league results, and the first league game for the Dragons doesn’t come until March 15 when they meet Casa Grande.

The standings should fill out after the weekend, which the Dragons open with another home game at Arnold Field on Friday, Feb. 22, against Bishop O’Dowd, starting at 7 p.m.

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