St. Helena rallies from behind late in win

By Matt Hanlon

Wine Country Baseball.com

The St. Helena Angels entered Thursday night’s game with their stakes in the playoff race in jeopardy. That proved to be more enough motivation.

Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Angels scored four runs to keep their playoff hopes very much alive as they defeated the Rohnert Park Dragons 6-3 at Golis Park in Rohnert Park.

An error, a bunt single and then an RBI bunt single led to the first two runs of the eighth, giving the Angels (6-7) the lead. John Ahlers followed with a two-RBI double, giving St. Helena all the insurance that was needed.

Josh McIntosh went the distance on the mound for, striking out 13 to earn the victory while allowing only two earned runs on five hits.

“It was just my day today, I was consistent and throwing strikes,” he said. “It was a solid team effort.  We had a couple good bunts. We normally like to hit the ball… but when it comes down to it, we got a win.”

Matt Kasch put the Dragons (5-6) on the board when he scored on an error in the first inning. St. Helena took the lead in the bottom half of the inning on a pair of walks, a wild pitch and an error.

Rohnert Park tied it in the fifth on a single by Jake Halady that scored Eric Walker and then took the lead two innings later on another Halady single. But that was the last time the Dragons would cross the plate.

Justin Wade was the only Angel with a multi-hit game as he finished 2-for-2 with a pair of runs scores. Ahlers finished with three RBIs for the night.

Jarrod Dumont was given the loss for Rohnert Park but matched McIntosh with 13 strikeouts.

The win puts the Angels’ win column even with the Napa Knights for second place in the Napa Division, behind the Oakville Aces. The top two teams from each division advance to the playoffs, with the winner of the Napa division receiving an automatic berth to the championship series.

Petaluma holds off Wonders, 10-9

By Matt Hanlon

Wine Country Baseball.com

The Petaluma Piratas entered week 11 of Wine Country Baseball with perhaps the toughest week schedule off any team this season. And they started it all off with yet another dramatic win at Arnold Field.

Despite leading for the entire game, a few costly defensive and pitching errors put the Piratas’ hopes for a big week in jeopardy. But Petaluma (7-2) staved off the Windsor Wonders in a shaky, time constrained, eight-inning 10-9 win on Wednesday night in Sonoma.

Both teams entered the game with plenty to prove. Windsor was riding a seven game winning streak and Petaluma who barely beat Sonoma last week after a disappointing loss to Oakville two weeks before.

The win was a big boost for the Piratas who face the league leading Santa Rosa Giants on Saturday at Cardinal Newman High School.

“We knew this was a big week,” said Piratas’ manager Nate Wall. “We wanted to get at least get one win, to split. Now we’re going for two.”

Petaluma’s Jaymes Manos got the win with a short start. He threw 3 2/3 innings but was forced out of the game after he experienced pain in his elbow.

Sammy Bruno was one of the key components of a Piratas’ offense that showered 11 hits through eight innings. Bruno finished 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and scored three runs.

TJ Drotleff and Vince Ambroselli also contributed, both went 2-for-4, Drotleff with a pair of RBIs and Ambroselli with one run batted in.

For the Wonders (8-2), Victor Hernandez swung the potent bat as he went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. The Wonders also saw big days from Nick Borowicz who was 2-for-5 and Riley Sullivan, who drove two runs home with a long double in the first inning.

The Wonders, who started off the season with an 11-9 hiccup of a loss against Sebastopol had since been unbeaten. That is, until Wednesday night.

Despite the loss the Wonders remain in second place in the league with a half game lead over the Piratas. The Giants remain in first, their only loss on the season coming against Windsor.