TURLOCK — The Cal State Stanislaus baseball team picked up a much-needed victory in game one on Saturday as the Warriors snapped a skid as well as ending a streak against Sonoma State.
Behind a strong start by
Nick Voumard and a solid relief effort by
Aaron Godinez, Stanislaus won Saturday's doubleheader opener, 2-1. Sonoma State busted the game open with a 7-run fourth in the nightcap to win 15-5 for the split.
With the game one win, the Warriors snapped an eight-game losing streak, to improve to 7-17 overall and 2-12 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The win was also the Warriors' first against Sonoma State in the last 10 games in the head-to-head series.
Nick Molina and
Marcus Mastrobuoni each had two hits to lead the Warriors offensively with Mastrobuoni driving in a run in the third when
Scott Stetson scored to give Stanislaus a 1-0 lead. In the sixth, Molina walked with one out and eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
The Warriors had multiple chances to break the game open but ended up leaving 10 runners on base.
Voumard's effort on the mound was a welcomed sight for the depleted pitching staff as the sophomore went 6 1/3 innings and gave up just a run on four hits. He struck out five and walked four in his outing as he improved to 3-1 on the season. At one stretch of the game, Voumard retired 14 of 17 batters before Sonoma State finally rallied in the seventh.
Devin Alexander, who ended up 3-for-3 in game one, started the Sonoma seventh with a double and came around to score on a fielder's choice.
Godinez allowed three straight singles in the eighth but did get out of the jam on a strikeout and a fly-out to end the threat. Godinez sat the Seawolves down in order in the ninth to preserve the win with a save.
Sonoma State scored in the first five innings of the nightcap, including a seven-run fourth to win convincingly. The Seawolves improved to 16-13 overall and 10-10 in conference play as they scattered a total of 18 hits, including nine doubles, against six Stanislaus pitchers. Dustyn Macaluso went 3-for-5 with three doubles and four other SSU players also each had three hits.
Erik Colombini provided a major highlight for the Warriors in the nightcap with a three-run homer to deep left field to cut the deficit down to 10 runs.
Christian Kahler and Stetson each had three hits in game two.