Rayson Romero (left) and Kenny Meimerstorf (right) smile after taking the lead in the eighth inning of the Sonoma Stompers game against the Vallejo Admirals, August 24, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif.(James W. Toy III / Sonoma Stompers)
SONOMA, Calif. – Despite falling behind early, the Sonoma Stompers battled all game long Friday night, tying the contest in the seventh and taking their only lead of the game in the eighth to win the game 5-4.
The Vallejo Admirals struck for three runs in the first and Sonoma soon countered in the bottom half of the inning, scoring on a Vallejo error. Rayson Romero brought his team within one in the second, connecting for his first home run of the season, also his professional home run.
“I thought it was a matter of time,” Romero said. “It has been a pretty long season and to finally get the first home run off my back feels really good.”
Even though Vallejo scored in the fourth, Sonoma added a run in the fifth to stay within one run, again taking advantage of an Admiral error.
The tides turned in the seventh when Kam Stewart tied the game with a double that scored Marcus Bradley, the third of three runs Bradley scored in the game, also after his third of three walks.
“That is my job, to get on base,” Bradley said. “It just happened to be that they couldn’t find the zone against me. That’s all I’m trying to do, disrupt the game with my speed and let the big boppers behind me do their job and score me.
Looking to break the tie in the eighth, Niko Pacheco singled, then another error from Vallejo scored Kenny Meimerstorf to give the Stompers their first and only lead of the game.
After D.J. Sharabi, Jason Seever and Ryan Richardson combined for 3.1 innings of scoreless relief, Jacob Cox took the ball in the ninth and sent Vallejo packing to pick up his 24th save of 2018.
The Stompers travel to Albert Park Saturday evening for a 5:05 p.m. game against the San Rafael Pacifics. Should the Stompers win, they would not only break the franchise record for wins in a season, but they would also clinch the regular season title and ensure home field advantage throughout the playoffs.