Before Tuesday, it had been several years since an Acalanes Varsity pitcher threw a complete game shutout.  On Saturday, Ethan Rowland (sr) became the second Don of the week to do so.

Before the game started, the team learned that planned reliever Dante Montgomery (sr) had injured a finger on his throwing hand and wouldn’t be able to pitch, so the pressure was on Ethan to put in a strong start.  When he struck out the first Monte Vista Mustangs batter, it looked like Ethan would be up for the task. 

Ethan and the Mustangs pitcher traded blanks through the first 3 innings.  After the Mustang’s starter gave way to their first reliever in the 4^th, things changed.  Jack Cusumano (sr) and Luke Souza (sr) drew walks, and Miles Bergman (sr) was hit by a pitch.  With the bases loaded and two outs, Will Berrien (sr) stepped up to the plate and the Mustangs went to their bullpen.  What ensued was surely one of the wildest at-bats that will happen this season.   The first pitch skirted under the catcher’s mitt, and Cusumano raced home to score the first run.  The next pitch was too far outside for the catcher to even get a glove on it, and Souza trotted home for the second run.  Then Miles Bergman faked a steal of home, which rattled the pitcher into balking and gave Bergman a free walk to home.  Berrien hadn’t even swung his bat and the bases were cleared and the Dons were up 3-0. 

Kyle White would add two more runs to the game, first on a balk on the 5^th inning and later on a wild pitch in the 7^th inning.  Incredibly, the Dons put 5 runs on the scoreboard without recording a single RBI.  You could chalk that up to poor pitching, alert baserunning or perhaps a raucous dugout led by the vocal Logan Ketchum (sr) who got inside the Mustangs pitchers’ head.  Whatever the cause, the Dons were able to score 5 runs on only 4 hits.

Meanwhile on the defensive end, Ethan just kept throwing strikes.  His biggest test came in the 6^th when the Mustangs put runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with one out.  The next batter ripped a line drive to 3^rd, which Bergman snagged and stepped on 3^rd to double up the runner who couldn’t get back to the bag in time.  When Bergman fielded a ground ball and threw across the diamond to Souza in the 7^th the game was over, and Ethan’s complete game shutout was in the books.  The final stat line for Ethan: 0 runs, 9 hits, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, on 92 pitches a whopping 72 of which were strikes (78%).

It was a good week for the Dons, winning 3 games by a total margin of 20-3.  The 4 pitchers and defense gave up just 1 earned run all week!

Next up for the Dons: another non-league game at Home against Las Lomas, Wednesday at 4pm.  Make plans to come out and see this team which is producing from both sides of the diamond.