Spring break was relaxing for most students, but the Seawolves’ baseball season was in full swing.  The baseball team had a long weekend with games on Friday, a doubleheader on Saturday, and a game on Sunday to cap off the weekend against Cal Poly Pomona at Seawolf diamond.  The Seawolves started on a sour note as they lost 8-0 in Friday’s 11-inning marathon, and 13-0 in their first game on Saturday.  However, they managed to split the series evenly, as they won the last two games of the series, 7-1 and 8-7.  After this series, this puts the Seawolves at 5-11  in conference play.

Early struggles in the series were prevalent as Sonoma was nearly no-hit by Pomona pitcher Will Rudy.  After that tough loss, the Seawolves went on to drop game two of the series in their first game of Saturday’s doubleheader behind Seawolf walks and a grand slam by Pomona.  The Seawolves were not done fighting; they unloaded with ten hits and seven runs, taking game three 7-1.  They went on to take the series finale on Sunday with an 8-7 victory.  They split the series evenly, with two wins and two losses. 

Tanner Fonoti, a junior and American multicultural studies major, received the win in Sunday’s game, throwing 4.2 innings.  Fonoti struck out 3 and didn’t walk anyone.  He also only allowed 3 runs on 6 hits.  Fonoti and his teammates had a lot of time to prepare for this battle with Pomona this weekend.  “Spring break was great.  It helped us all just relax and lock in for this weekend.  School can be stressful sometimes, and not having it this week really took some weight off our shoulders for sure,” mentioned Fonoti. 

Cal State Pomona was hot coming into the Sonoma series this past weekend.  Having a positive mindset was very important for Fonoti and his teammates before the games.  “Well, we knew this weekend wasn’t going to be a walk in the park; they’re a really good ball team.  But, not as good as us,” added Fonoti.  Staying positive was on top of Fonoti’s priority list and helped him become the winning pitcher in Sunday’s contest. 

Pomona is no joke; before this series, they had come off a sweep of Cal State East Bay and were red hot, according to goccaa.org.  They continued their momentum into the first 2 games with a total of twenty-one runs against the scoreless Seawolves.  The starting catcher Cole Brodnansky, who’s a graduate student and history major, started the first and last game of the series.  As the captain of the infield, Brodnansky always tries to keep his team as optimistic as possible because they could easily ignite a rally at any given moment.  “Things may not have gone our way the first two games, but we felt that we were in both ball games and had a chance to win,” said Brodnansky. 

After dropping the first two games to Cal Poly Pomona, the resilient Seawolves struck back in the two final games with huge wins.  Through perseverance and optimism, the Seawolves were able to even out the series with two wins of their own.  You can catch the baseball team’s next game on April 8 at the Seawolf diamond after they go on the road to play S.F. State next weekend.