Dragons’ baseball wins twice over Eureka

Coming off an eight-day layoff for Spring Break, the Sonoma high school boys baseball team returned to action on Saturday against the Eureka Loggers for a doubleheader at Arnold Field.
The first game was an easy 6-1 victory for the home team. Pitcher Devin McCauley upped his record to 5-0 with his fourth consecutive complete game win, as he gave up just one unearned run and struck out five. Senior shortstop Joe Wittig had three RBIs in the game, including a solo home run to right-center in the 6th inning that cleared the 345-foot sign.
The second game, in contrast, was dramatic. Wittig was the opening pitcher for the first time this year. He gave up two runs in the first inning before a Nate Rowland two-run homer tied the game in the 3rd inning.
The Loggers responded with seven runs off Wittig in the top of the 4th, including a homerun by Brandon Vitale to start off the rally. Wittig was relieved by left-hander Cory Riley, who was able to get out of the jam, but left Sonoma looking up at a 9-2 lead. Sonoma rallied with six runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, thanks to seven consecutive singles, to cut the lead to 9-8.
Great pitching from Riley and sophomore Ben Graff kept the Loggers in check, and in the bottom of the 7th inning, senior captain Tommy Lyons was at bat. He had been mired in a big slump before the day began, batting below .200. With one out, Kyle Clyde got on with a triple into the right-center field gap. Graff followed by grounding out into a drawn-in infield, leaving Lyons in a clutch situation with two outs and a runner on third.
Just like he did last year in so many clutch situations, Lyons came through when it mattered most, with an RBI single to right field that scored Clyde and tied the game at 9-9.
Graff pitched the 8th inning and senior Luke Ranzau took over in the 9th, as the Dragons tried to stay with Eureka hurler Justin Hatch, who was great in relief work for the Loggers. Then in the bottom of the 9th, once again with Clyde on base with two away, Lyons came through, this time with an RBI double to deep center field that put the game away and gave Sonoma a thrilling Game 2 win, 10-9.
The Dragons are now 9-1 on the season and will start off the second round of Sonoma County League play Tuesday afternoon when they travel to Petaluma to take on Casa Grande at 4 p.m. The starting pitchers have not been named for the game. Back on March 4, these two teams had a pitchers’ duel as McCauley pitched a complete game shutout, and the Dragons scored the game’s only run on an RBI single by senior Matt McGunagle to win the game, 1-0.