In a match-up between the two undefeated DFAL teams, the Dons travelled to Northgate on Tuesday to take on the Broncos. As it turned out, heads-up baserunning and brilliant pitching ruled the day.

For the 3^rd game in a row, Miles Bergman’s (sr) lead-off hit led to the 1^st run of the game.  Bergman started the 3^rd inning with a line-drive single to right.   After stealing second, Bergman watched Will Berrien (sr) lay down a perfect bunt and beat the throw to 1^st.  Rather, Bergman wasn’t watching anything as he had his head down and was determined to score from 2^nd on the bunt.  When he slid in just before the catcher could put the tag down the Dons were up 1-0.  Little did they know, that was the only run the Dons would need.

Connor McPhail (sr) started the scoring in the 4^th inning with a single up the middle.  Jack Cusumano (sr) followed with a perfectly executed run-and-hit by slapping the ball to the right side while an absent second baseman was covering the bag on Connor’s steal.  Two batters later, Cusumano showed heads up base running of his own on a wild pitch that barely got away from the catcher.  Dons baserunning 2-Broncos 0.

The Dons added another run in the 5^th after Kyle White (sr) doubled on a line drive to left and was brought home on a single by Donte Montgomery (sr).  Dons 3-Broncos 0.

Meanwhile, Benjy Braunstein was in complete control on the mound, giving up only 2 hits in the first 5 innings.  With the heart of the Broncos line-up coming up it felt like the bottom of the 6^th was going to be the crucial inning.  The first hitter, who came into the game hitting .726, lined a single to left.  Coach Connor Hornsby (Acalanes alum) visited the mound, and sensing the Broncos need to do something to get their offense going, called for 2 pick-off attempts followed by a pitch-out on the next set of plays.  Again, the Dons executed it flawlessly, and when Jack Cusumano threw a perfect strike down to Dante Montgomery at 2^nd the stealing Broncos runner was out by a mile.  That seemed to take the wind out of the Broncos sail and the Benjy retired the next two hitters quickly.

The Dons added an insurance run in the 7^th when Berrien almost single handedly manufactured the run.  He singled to left with one out, coerced a balk from the pitcher, advanced to 3^rd on a Kyle White fly ball that looked like it would clear the 385 foot sign, and scored on a ball that got away from the catcher.

With a 4-0 lead, and two more games this week, the coaches left Benjy in to finish off the 7^th, which he did on 9 pitches.  In doing so, Benjy recorded the 1^st Dons complete-game-shutout in at least the last 3 years!  Benjy dominated Northgate, going the full 7 innings on 78 pitches (2/3rds for strikes), yielding only 4 hits, no walks, only allowing 1 runner past 2^nd base.

Next up for the streaking Dons: Northgate at home on Thursday at 4pm.  We can’t promise the weather will be as balmy, but we can promise it will be exciting.  Come out and support this team that is getting hot at the right time of year!