Dons Split Opening Week, Go 1-1

On what turned into an Icy Tuesday afternoon at Acalanes, the Spring campaign got off to a cold start.  The Dons hosted a very tough squad from Marin Catholic who boasted a number of D1 commits.  The bright spots were Dante Montgomery’s solid start as he held the visitors scoreless for 3 innings (pictured below), and a good defense that committed only 1 error.  As the day grew colder, windier, and darker, however, Marin Catholic took the lead in the 4^th and didn’t look back until, the icy rain and darkness forced an early end to the game. 

On Wednesday however, the weather and the Dons fortunes changed significantly.  The Dons visited Vallejo to see St Patrick’s – St Vincent’s, and Henry Souza (Soph), pictured below, started his season with a bang as he tossed 3 hitless innings and faced the minimum 9 batters!

Also encouraging was the Dons offense which came to life at the plate and on the basepaths from the very beginning. The Dons scored 3 runs in the first behind 4 stolen bases, 1 hit, 2 walks, a HBP, and a Sac fly. The Dons starters continued to pour it on in the second, third and fourth innings before giving way to teammates.  In all, the Dons totaled 11 runs on 9 hits, including 2 each by Jack Cusumano (Sr) and Nico O’Rourke (Jr), and 8 stolen bases – 4 by Miles Bergman (Sr). Below, Kyle White (Sr) gets in on the base looting.

With the game pretty much out of reach, the starters gave way to the bench who took the Dons most of the way home.  All in all, 18 players got to see the field and 5 pitchers got some innings in, including Souza, Rowland, Smith, Mikalis, and Bates (who earned the save). 

Nico O’Rourke (pictured below) finished 2-4 with a 2B, 1R, and 3RBIs and Jack Cusumano (Sr) went 2-4, a 2B, 1R and 2RBI. Bergman finished 1-1 with 3 walks, 4 SB, 3 runs scored and an RBI. 

Next up, the Dons are at Amador Valley next Tuesday, and home vs San Ramon on Friday – both games at 3:30