Sonoma finishes strong against Windsor

Although the Windsor Jaguars were 0-13 on the season, the Sonoma Dragons baseball team figured out much sooner than later that the Jaguars were looking to knock off the top dog in the Sonoma County League.
Windsor stayed right with Sonoma through four innings, even chasing Sonoma ace Devon McCauley from the contest after only three and a third innings as the senior gave up four runs, twice as many as he had given up over his five previous starts. The Jaguars were only down two to Sonoma, 6-4. But Cory Riley pitched two and two thirds innings of shutout relief, and the Dragons scored eight runs total over the fifth and sixth innings before the game was called by the ten run mercy rule, 14-4.
Steven Filippi had a great game for Sonoma, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and four RBIs. Joe Wittig had another strong outing for the Dragons, going 2-for-3 himself with a 2-run triple in the first that got Sonoma going early on. He had three RBIs on the day, leading the Redwood Empire now with 23. The next closest is Tony Demarco of El Molino, who has 15.
Riley got the win, his first decision of the season. At 11-1, the Dragons are the top team in the Redwood Empire, and were recently ranked tenth in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Dragons play two tough back-to-back home games this week starting Tuesday, April 8, when they host the Analy Tigers at 7 p.m. at Arnold Field, carried live on SVTV27. The matchup is scheduled to be Ben Graff (4-1) against Nick Mutz (1-0). Both throw hard and both are considered among the best pitchers in Sonoma County. The Dragons will then host Petaluma on Friday, April 11, when they will hope to avenge their only loss of the season.