Mark Hurley drives home Brennan Metzger with an RBI single in the seventh. Hurley had three hits on the night.
James Toy III/Sonoma Stompers
Tim Livingston, Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations
It started like many other games have started at Arnold Field for the Stompers in 2015. A quick flurry of offense in the first inning against a pitcher that didn't have the greatest track record coming into Wednesday night's game. Just like that, a 3-0 lead.
However, instead of building upon that lead like they've done multiple times this season, that pitcher, Kenneth McDowell, found a groove and didn't leave it for the next five innings, allowing Vallejo to not only get back into the game, but take the lead. From there, the Admirals bullpen did the rest, holding off the Stompers and sending Sonoma to a 6-4 loss in the second game of the teams' weeklong series.
Sonoma (9-8 2nd half, 35-19 overall), got out to that early lead thanks to four consecutive singles and a double steal, leading 3-0 against McDowell (1-0), who was making his first start of 2015 with the Admirals. However, they were the only runs Sonoma would score against the right-hander, as even with a bases loaded situation with one out in the third, McDowell struck out the next two batters to end the inning and escape the jam.
Vallejo (6-11, 19-37) had scored twice to make it a 3-2 game by the sixth, having figured out Eric Schwieger (5-3) after a walk, a hit batter and both a run scoring groundout and a single after a sacrifice bunt. Sonoma was in for a fight against the last-place Admirals.
Unfortunately for the Stompers, it was the Admirals who struck next against Schwieger in the sixth. With two on, Lydell Moseby singled to make it a tie game. Then, it was Tyger Pederson, who was 1 for his last 11, that came up with the go-ahead hit, an RBI single to left that gave Vallejo a 4-3 lead. After Tyler Nordgren's grounder to 1st allowed Moseby to come home, Vallejo had led 5-3 and Schwieger was out of the game.
In the seventh, Vallejo added another run thanks to a wild pitch by Erik Gonsalves, but the Stompers got it back in the bottom half. Brennan Metzger doubled down the right-field line with two outs and Mark Hurley knocked him in with a single to center to make it 6-4.
Josh Evans and Bryan Escanio would lock it down the rest of the way for the Admirals, with Escanio picking up his 10th save in the process.
The Stompers offense struck out 13 times in the game, including 11 times against McDowell. Isaac Wenrich and Taylor Eads each struck out three times. It wasn't all bad on the offensive front, as Metzger went 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored and Hurley went 3-for-4 with two runs driven in.
Sonoma will try and bounce back on Thursday night on Military Appreciation Night, where the Stompers will honor the 6th Refueling Squadron out of Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield and host both the Sonoma Valley Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Sons of the Golden West.
Tickets begin at just $4 and can be purchased online at StompersBaseball.com or at the Stompers Fan Shop, located at 234 W. Napa St. in beautiful downtown Sonoma. Tickets can also be purchased at the gates at Arnold Field before any home game. For more information, call the Stompers at (707) 938-7277 or email the team at info@stompersbaseball.com.