June 6, 2019
NAPA, Calif- The Sonoma Stompers opened their first road trip of the 2019 season in Napa on Thursday night against the Silverados. After allowing Napa to plate four runs in the first inning, the Stompers relentless offense put them ahead late in the game for good.
Right-hander Vijay Patel started on the mound for the Stompers and struggled in the bottom of the first inning. after allowing a leadoff walk to Willie Salas, Patel recorded the first out by way of the flyout but he immediately followed it with another walk to Jordan Garr. With runners at second and third, Josh Montelongo hit a bouncer to third which Jacob Barfield fielded cleanly but threw away, allowing two runs to score on the error. With two outs, JJ Bissell drove in a run with a single to make it 3-0, and he later scored on a wild pitch to cap off the Silverados 4-run first inning.
The Stompers bounced back offensively in the top of the third inning when Barfield opened the frame with a double down the left field line. Newcomer Champi Lucca then singled to put runners at the corners with nobody out. Nick Gotta, coming into the game hitting .500, then drove in the first Stompers run with a single to right. After back-to-back strikeouts to Miles Williams and Rob DeAngelis, lefty Tre Hobbs surrendered a 2-out, 2-run single to Dondrei Hubbard, as the Stompers closed the gap to 4-3.
Napa put up one more run in the bottom half of the third inning on a Montelongo sacrifice fly to make it 5-3.
In the top of the fourth inning Daniel Molinari drew a 2-out walk to extend the inning after Hobbs got two quick outs. Then Barfield tied the game on a monster home run to left field, his first of the year and his first runs batted in of the year.
Patel ended his night after four innings in which he allowed five runs, two of them, earned, on five hits while walking two and striking out three.
After a scoreless fifth, the Stompers scratched one run across in the top of the sixth on another Gotta RBI single, giving the Stompers their first lead of the game 6-5.
Two more runs came through for the Stompers in the top of the seventh inning on an RBI single by Chris Kwitzer and an RBI groundout from Brock Hartley to extend the lead 8-5.
Lefty Luke Laurita was first out of the bullpen for Manager Zack Pace and he retired the first seven batter he faced. He started to struggle in the bottom of the seventh, allowing back-to-back 1-out walks, and then a 2-out RBI single to Montelongo before being taken out of the game with an 8-6 lead.
Pace then brought in DJ Sharabi who quickly allowed a 2-out double to Nicco Toni, allowing Napa to come within one run, but he then struck out Bissell looking to end the threat in the seventh.
The Stompers scored twice more in the top of the eighth inning on an RBI single by Williams and a wild pitch that allowed Gotta to score, once again extending the lead to 10-7.
Ryan Richardson (0-0, 0.00 ERA) then entered to slam the door in the bottom of the ninth. After allowing back-to-back singles to open the inning, Richardson got two punch-outs and a pop up to grab his first save of the year.
The Stompers are now 3-2 on the season and will head to Vallejo for a 6:35 start on Friday night at Wilson Park.