A week after playing a game that lacked any suspense whatsoever, on Wednesday the Acalanes JV Baseball Dons played a thriller against the visiting Amador Valley JV Dons.  The ending left neither team satisfied, but it’s fair to say that Amador Valley Dons probably breathed a big sigh of relief when the game was called.  Acalanes Dons threatened to run away with it in the 1st inning, when they sent 7 men to the plate and put 3 runs on the board.  Mason Zirkel got a lead-off walk after a 9-pitch at-bat, Keegan Goddard singled, Sully Bailey snatched another walk, and then Mason and Keegan ran the bases hard and both scored on a double-booted passed ball; Everett Glass singled, and Sully scored on the James Stadt‘s groundout.  The AV starter settled down after this, however, and runs became harder to come by.  The Acalanes Dons got another run in the 2nd on singles from Jake Boselli and Wyatt Cooper, and one in the 3rd on a bobbled hard grounder from Jake Boselli, but then couldn’t get anything going until 6th.  In the meantime, the AV Dons were clawing their way back, at first hanging around down by a run for a few innings, and then getting ahead by a run in top 6.  Batting against relievers, the Acalanes Dons battled back in bottom 6th: Jake Boselli hit another long flyball single, and Wyatt knocked him in with a hard grounder to short that he legged out.  With the game tied at 6 and playing at home, the Acalanes Dons were right there to win the game on a walk-off.  They had a golden chance in bottom 7th, when James Stadt doubled with one out, but couldn’t bring him home: a heroic effort from the AV Dons CF on a long fly ball from Paul Kuhner sent the game into extra innings.  The Acalanes Dons were right there again in bottom 8th, when Mason got a lead-off single, but again couldn’t break through.  The game was called tied 6-6 after 8 innings as it was getting late and the daylight was fading.
Peter Thorn started on the hill for Acalanes Dons, and went 5 innings, giving up 4 runs (2 earned) on 5 H and 2 BB, while striking out 4.  Jack Giorgianni added an inning in relief, and got out of an inherited bases-loaded jam, and Mason closed the game out with 2 clean innings of 1-hit ball, while cutting down 4.  The Acalanes Dons collected 11 hits in all, with Mason‘s 3-3 leading the way, and Wyatt, Everett, and Jake Boselli getting 2 hits apiece.  
The teams were pretty evenly matched, and while the Acalanes Dons arguably deserved to win, both teams showed early-season sloppiness.  Both teams scored 6 runs on just 3 RBIs, with the rest of the scoring coming off numerous passed balls and fielding errors, with the Acalanes Dons charged with 4.  Both teams had base runners lost to regrettable miscues, and while the Acalanes Dons had plenty of base runners, they stranded 9 of them.  The AV Dons used small ball very effectively to mount their comeback, when they laid out two perfect bunts in the 6th that the Acalanes Dons had no answer for.  The Dons had some strong defensive moments, too, with a lot of long fly balls run down in the outfield, and an AV base runner trying to score from 2nd on a long single to the right cut down at the plate on a perfect relay throw from outfield.  Still, the Acalanes Dons defense will have to step it up when they travel to San Ramon on Friday.