CARSON — An early lead from the visiting Sonoma State proved too steep to overcome, as the Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team saw four of the nine seniors, who were honored before the game, set up a three-run rally in the ninth inning, but still drop the final game of the season, 12-8.
Before the Toros took the field, they honored their nine seniors, Adrian Guzman, Brandon Evans, Shawn Sweeney, Nick Morelli, Miguel Castaneda, Parker Hokuf, John Soteropulos, Ethan Etchebarren and Joe Bresson.
Both teams felt confident at the plate, combining for a total of 24 hits. Sonoma State slugger Joshua Montelongo, had the best day in the batter's box, going 3-3, including two home runs and five RBIs.
Although the Seawolves outscored the Toros, it was the home side that collected more hits and they also got the runs rolling in the bottom of the first. Morelli stole a base after reaching on an infield error with one out. Two batters later Esteban Ortega singled through the left side, scoring Morelli from second base.
It did not take long of the Seawolves to respond as Montelongo came up in the top of the second inning with a runner on and belted a huge homerun to left field off of Toros starting pitcher, Rigo Fernandez. Fernandez lasted five innings for the Toros, allowing six hits and seven walks.
Sonoma State added another run in the bottom half of the second through an error from Toros catcher Sweeney. Sweeney attempted a pickoff throw to second base which flew over the glove of the man covering and scored Jackson Leslie from third. Sweeney made up for his mistake in the bottom of the second inning, when he singled to right field, scoring Adrian Guzman from second.
The big damage came in the bottom half of the third inning with two outs, courtesy of the visitors. Nathan Mann drew a walk and the next batter up, Montelongo, hit another homerun to left center. The next batter Leslie walked, followed by a hit by pitch and a single up the middle by Rayson Romero, which scored leslie. Next batter up was Daniel Caresio, who tripled down the right field line, scoring two more runs. Caresio was then driven home by Bryce Nagata.
Yet, the Toros responded again as Soteropulos homered to left field. Soteropulos would drive in some more runs again in the bottom of the fourth inning. With two runners on, he doubled down the left field line scoring Morelli and Sweeney.
Sonoma State got two more runs in the top of the sixth, thanks to two walks, a fielding error, a wild pitch and sacrifice fly. The visitors scored one more run in the top of the eighth and had a commanding seven-run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.
With much work to do, the Toros managed to score three-runs in the ninth with two out. Hokuf got things going with a single up the middle, followed by a triple by Evans. Stephen Kish would then come on to pinch run for Evans, and he would eventually score on a wild pitch. The last run of the game was scored by Daryl Donerson who was driven in by a single to third by Brandon Polizzi.
