Riding a 5-game winning streak, Dons continued their homestand by hosting Miramonte on a rare chilly mid-May day.
Game 1
In what can only be perceived as a compliment to the Dons Frosh, Miramonte brought a couple of sophomores from their JV team to pitch against them in game 1 of the doubleheader. The Dons were slow to get the scoring going against the hard-throwing Miramonte starter. There were some hard-hit fly balls early, but none fell. The Dons were hitless until the 4th, when Jack Giorgianni doubled, advanced on a passed ball, and then scored on Aleksey Volobuev‘s sacrifice fly. The game remained tight until the end. The Dons were threatening at the bottom of the 7th, when Kiran Foster hit a single, stole 2nd, advanced on a passed ball, and scored when Peter Thorn‘s hard grounder got both booted and airmailed past 1st on the same play. The Dons had two on with one out, and the go-ahead run at the plate, but couldn’t break through.
Once again Dons’ pitching was stellar. Sully Bailey started, and threw 4 strong innings, giving up 2 unearned runs on 2 hits and 4 walks with 4 strikeouts. Mason Zirkel closed out the game by going 3 innings, 2 runs on 5 hits and no walks, with 4 strikeouts. Unfortunately, the Dons’ defense wasn’t always there to back their pitchers up, with two costly errors, and a rocky defensive performance all-around, which doomed the 5-game winning streak. Dons 2, Miramonte 4.
Game 2
With a BBQ lunch put away and sun peeking through the clouds, Dons bats finally woke up and kept going at a slow but steady pace. In the 2nd, Aleksey and Kiran Foster led off with back-to-back singles and moved up on Peter Thorn‘s sac bunt. That allowed Aleksey to score on a passed ball, and then Aiden Yates knocked in Kiran on a single. In the 3rd, Everett Glass and Sully Bailey again led off with singles and moved on steals. Everett scored on a botched pickoff attempt, and then Aleksey knocked in Sully on a hard line drive. In the 4th, Brady Morrow singled, Aiden got beaned, and more chaos on the base paths ensued, with the Dons running hard and the ball flying all over the place, resulting two more runs scoring without needing a hit. Comfortably ahead, the Dons poured on two more runs in the 5th, when Jack reached on a dropped 3rd strike, stole 2nd, and scored on another Aleksey single. Seth Waxler went in as a pinch-runner and scored on Peter‘s sac fly.
Jack Giorgianni started on the hill, and was the usual dominating self, going 5 innings and surrendering 2 runs (1 earned), on 2 hits and 2 walks with 3 strikeouts. Peter Thorn went 2 innings in relief, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits. Dons’ defense stiffened up, and committed no errors.
The Dons swung the bats well, and spread the offense around. They had 9 hits in all, Aleksey leading the way with 3, and Sully, Aiden, Everett, Brady, Kiran, and Peter one hit apiece. The Dons reaped the benefits of aggressive baserunning, scoring 8 runs on just 4 RBIs. While Miramonte managed to create a little bit of excitement with 2 outs in top 7th and score a couple of runs, at that point the game was firmly at hand. Dons 8, Miramonte 4.
