Rohnert Park overpowers Sonoma, 11-4

Eric Walker singles up the middle in the sixth inning in Rohnert Park’s 11-4 victory over the Sonoma Crushers Saturday at Cardinal Newman High School.

By Matt Hanlon

Wine Country Baseball.com

The Sonoma Crushers, after coming up on the short end of a dramatic ninth inning finish on Wednesday night in Sonoma, were in need of a win against the powerful Rohnert Park Dragons.

Unfortunately for the Crushers, they came up on the short end yet again.

Ian Keane allowed one earned run through six innings, helping the Dragons (3-4) hand the Crushers their second loss of the week, this one an 11-4 rout at Cardinal Newman High School on Saturday.

The big break for the Dragons came when Shane Francisco knocked home two runs in the third inning with a single up the middle, breaking a 2-2 tie. That tie would be the last threat the Crushers posed to Rohnert Park in the game.

After scoring a pair of runs in the first three innings, the Crushers were held scoreless until the eighth inning when Jason Buhagiar knocked home Alfred Garcia with a sacrifice fly and Joe Wittig sent a double into right field, scoring Jody Ray.

Brandon Renfro led the Dragons’ offense. He went 3-for-5, knocking home two runs and scoring twice while Chris Cerda also contributed, going 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

Wittig proved to be one of the main offensive sources for Sonoma (4-5) in the game, finishing 2-for-2 with a single in addition to the double late in the game.