Baseball is not a sport known for an abundance of tie games, and yet the JV baseball Dons got a second tie of the season on Tuesday, when the Northgate Broncos came across town for the first leg of the Home/Away two-game series.  The game started late, due to a last-second bus cancellation, and that proved to be material in the outcome.  The Dons arguably looked like a stronger team, for most of the game, and certainly had opportunities to win, but they simply were not as sharp as usual, and it cost them a W.  The Dons did have their chances, but the shortage of timely hits and base-running miscues left them just short.  The bad news is that the Dons’ 4-game winning steak has come to an end, the good news is that their unbeaten streak continues, and stands at 8 games.  
The game started off well for the Dons.  In the 1st, Mason Zirkel did his job perfectly as the lead-off man, by getting on-board on a walk, stealing 2nd, advancing to 3rd on Everett Glass’ single, and scoring on Wyatt Cooper’s RBI groundout.  The crafty Broncos starter managed to avoid further damage in the inning, however, and managed to escape major damage throughout the game, by keeping the Dons off-balance, despite a shaky defense behind him.  In the 2nd, Jake Boselli got another lead-off walk, stole 2nd, advanced to 3rd on a groundout, and scored on Aidan Yates line drive that just snuck under 2B’s glove, but the Dons couldn’t get any more runs again.  The Dons managed to get two lead-off men on base on a couple of fielding errors in the 3rd, but couldn’t capitalize.  The Dons couldn’t get anything going in the 4th, but scratched out another run in the 5th when Keagan Goddard singled, advanced to 3rd on a passed ball and another Everett’s single, and scored on a passed ball.  The 3-run lead wasn’t quite enough though, and Broncos managed the get a rally going in the top 6th and tie the game up at 3-all.  The Dons got ahead again in bottom 6th: Jake Boselli and Brady Quinn drew walks, moved up on a passed ball, and then Jake scored on a wayward throw to 3rd.  The Dons were in a position to break the game open, with the bases loaded a couple at-bats later, but couldn’t get the big hit.  It was the Broncos turn to threaten in the top of the 7th, when they loaded up the bases, but the Dons were able to limit the damage to a single run.  There was a chance to win it all in the 8th when Brady got a lead-off single, but the Dons couldn’t pull it off this time.  At this point, it was getting dark — the late game start turned out to be important — and the game was called.  Dons 4, Broncos 4.
Even though the Dons overall offensive output wasn’t high by their standards, they did collect 8 hits.  Everett and Aidan led the team with 2 apiece, and Mason, Keagan, Wyatt, and Brady also got a hit.  Despite 8 hits, 5 walks, and 3 ROE, the Dons situational hitting was subpar in this game, with 9 men left on base and just 2 RBIs.  Dons got a strong starting pitcher performance from Mason, as usual: 5 1/3 innings pitched, 3 runs (2 earned) given up on 5 H and 4 BB.  Keagan stepped in as a setup man, throwing 1 2/3 innings, and getting charged for a single run on 1 H and 2 BB.  Peter Thorn finished the game out with a single clean inning.  The Dons defense was a mixed bag today, with 3 errors offset by some defensive gems.  In a season’s first, the Dons turned 2 double plays: a classic 4-6-3 in the 4th to get out of a 2-on, no outs jam, and an inning-ending 6-3 in the 5th.  In the top 8th, with the bases loaded, SS James Stadt made a game-saving play by making a diving catch on a hot grounder and, and while still on the ground, lunging to tap the bag with a glove for a force to end the inning.
The Dons will be heading to Northgate on Thursday for the second game of the series.