Stompers win home opener

After a month long road trip to begin the franchise’s inaugural season, the Sonoma Stompers finally came home to a capacity crowd at Arnold Field in Sonoma Tuesday night. The home team, in its first home game ever, delighted 1,302 fans with a 7-5 win over the San Rafael Pacifics.

The Stompers energized the crowd early, scoring all seven of their runs in the first three innings of the game.

Sonoma starting pitcher Will Krout was terrific, throwing 7.2 innings, and allowing just two earned runs on seven hits and a walk, and striking out six. He was dominant for a stretch during the middle innings, retiring 14 consecutive batters from the end of the second to the start of the seventh.

Matt Hibbert and Jaime Del Valle each had two hits and a walk and Jayce Ray had two hits and two walks back on the field that he played on for Sonoma High School during their 2008 NCS Championship season.

Stompers’ closer Mike Jackson Jr. allowed a run in the ninth inning, but recorded his league leading eighth save of the season.

The Stompers will be back at Arnold Thursday night at 7:05. The next home stand runs July 8-13.