(James W. Toy III / Sonoma Stompers)
SONOMA, Calif.– After sweeping the Pittsburg Diamonds at home, the Sonoma Stompers split their weekend games on the road, losing to the San Rafael Pacifics but bouncing back with a win in Pittsburg on Sunday.
Saturday, June 9 | Pacifics 7, Stompers 2
In manager Zack Pace’s first game back in San Rafael since his five-year playing career there, the skipper sent four-year Pacifics veteran Patrick Conroy to the mound to start for the rival Stompers. Conroy held his former team hitless in four of six innings while striking out two.
“It was fun, other than we lost,” Pace said on his return to San Rafael. “It was a good time seeing everybody and all the great relationships I had over there with players, coaches, fans.”
Left fielder Kenny Meimerstorf continued on his offensive tear despite the loss, ripping two singles and scoring Sonoma’s first run of the game in the fifth inning. One of those hits came against former Major Leaguer J.P. Howell. Howell most recently played for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2017.
The Stompers managed just two hits off of Howell, one of them by Meimersdorf and the other off the bat of catcher Daniel Comstock. Daniel Baptista also delivered, crushing his first home run of the season in the ninth. The efforts proved futile as the Pacifics won 7-2.
Sunday, June 10 | Stompers 6, Diamonds 4
The Stompers rebounded well on Sunday, getting out to an early 2-1 lead after just an inning and a half. Pittsburg scored two runs in the bottom of the second, but Meimerstorf sent a grand slam over the left field fence in the fifth inning to put the Stompers back on top for good at 6-4.
Dominic Topoozian earned his second win of the season, going six strong innings with five strikeouts and no walks. Robert Maislin, D.J. Sharabi and Jacob Cox combined for three scoreless inning out of the bullpen to seal the victory, Sonoma’s sixth of the season.
“I thought we pitched pretty well today, Dom did a great job for us,” Pace said. “It was a good way to finish the week, finish the week strong two games above 500. I thought we did a good job battling.”
After an off day on Monday, the Stompers head back to San Rafael Tuesday, then welcome the Pacifics home in Sonoma Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. and 6:05 p.m. respectively.