Mark Hurley hit a 2 run home run in the game on Saturday in Sonoma's 9-2 victory.
Rick Bolen/Sonoma Stompers
Geoff Safford, Media Relations Assistant
The Sonoma Stompers’ bats have answered the bell so far this weekend by putting together two great performances at the plate. Their balanced attack provided ample offense on their way to a 9-2 victory over the Vallejo Admirals on Saturday. Starter Jose Flores turned in his best effort of the season by far on his way to his first win of the season for Sonoma. He had struggled in his previous two starts but looked like a different pitcher on Saturday.
The Stompers offense was rolling from the start as they jumped to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning. Two straight RBI doubles by Derrick Fox and Joel Carranza were the highlights of the inning. Mason Morioka also chipped in with an RBI single to put Sonoma in the driver's seat.
Vallejo (7-10) made things a little interesting in the fourth as Lydell Moseby launched a two run bomb to left center field that silenced the home crowd and cut the Stomper lead to 3-2. However, that was the only blemish on Flores’ fantastic outing and was untouchable for the rest of the night.
Sonoma’s offense gave Flores some more breathing room in the fifth with a four run rally to put the game on ice. The highlight of the inning was a two run homer by left fielder Mark Hurley. It was Hurley’s first of the season. When the dust settled at the end of the inning Sonoma had a 7-2 lead. That would be plenty for Flores and ‘ fireman’ Taylor Thurber.
Flores looked like a different pitcher from his first two outings of the season. In those starts, he struggled with command and left Sonoma’s bullpen in tough spots because of early departures. Tonight however, the big righty silenced any doubters by blowing away the Admiral lineup. Flores allowed only two runs on six hits with no walks while striking out nine batters in six innings. Thurber came in to start the seventh and went the rest of the way. Thurber has been a great weapon out of the pen and picked up his second save of the season by getting the final nine outs.
Sonoma (9-7) has a chance to pick up their first series sweep with a win Sunday on Father’s Day at People’s Home Equity Ballpark at Arnold Field. Sonoma is scheduled to give the ball to Oliver Garcia. Garcia has shown that he has some of the best strikeout stuff on the team when he is on. But Sonoma will look for him to go deeper into the ballgame this time out than he has in pervious outings.
Tickets for Sunday’s game, and every home game this season are available on stompersbaseball.com. Tickets, and fan merchandise are also available for purchase at The Fan Shop located at 234 West Napa Street in downtown Sonoma. If you have any questions contact us at info@stompersbaseball.com.