The Dons opened the season on the road last week in frigid Marin County against perennial powerhouse
Marin Catholic and nearby Tamalpais High School. The first game was last Tuesday at Marin Catholic.
The temperature was in the 40’s with brisk 25 to 30 mile an hour winds. Yikes! The fans and players
were freezing. Benji O’Rourke started on the mound for Acalanes. The Marin Catholic Wildcats got off
to a quick start and grabbed the lead early.
The Dons fought back with hits from Nikko O’Rourke, Sammy Lee, Nikko Woodson and Andrew Habas to cut lead to 6-3. A couple of base running mistakes on the slippery turf cost the Dons, and in the end the Marin Catholic squad prevailed 11-5. Peter Thorn and Logan Mikalis finished the game on the hill for the Dons. Sammy Lee and Andrew led the team with two hits each.
On Friday the boys made the trek back to Marin to take on the Tamalpais Red Tailed Hawks for the
second half of their road trip. Players and coaches added a couple of layers of clothes
after the Tuesday experience at Marin Catholic. Conditions were cold, but the skies were clear.
Tamalpais starter Kaiden Dossa came out throwing darts, with a mix of hard fastballs, sliders and a
couple of speeds of curve balls. Fortunately the Dons were up to the task. Mason Zirkel started for the
Dons and put up a couple of zeros in the first two innings, with 3 strikeouts to match the Hawk’s hurler.
Mason was relieved in the third inning by Tyson Bates. Tyson had an outstanding outing, going 2.2
innings of shutoff baseball and recording 2 strikeouts. Rubber arm Peter Thorn made his second
appearance of the season and completely shut down Tamalpais hitters the last two innings to record the
save. The infield made some clutch plays, flashing the leather when the team needed it most. James
Stadt, Gavin Bender and Nikko Woodson all played a clean game in the infield with timely plays that
kept the scoring low.
Mason Michlitsch made the play of the game in the 5 th inning, with two Hawks on and only one out. He
fielded a hard hit grounder and fired to catcher Sammy Lee to nail the runner at home, before Sammy
threw to second to get a second runner trying to grab an extra base. The double play prevented
Tamalpais from tying the game and gave the momentum back to the Acalanes squad. Michlitsch also
added two hits to lead the Dons offensively. Andrew Habas, Nikko O’Rourke, Sammy Lee and James
Stadt also contributed to the Acalanes attack with a hit. The Dons escaped with a well pitched and
defensively sound 2-1 win to grab a split in Marin.
The boys open their home season this week against Amador Valley on Wednesday and Monte Vista on Friday. Buckle up for another exciting year of Acalanes baseball!
Varsity Roster: Sully Bailey, Tyson Bates, Aidan Beers, Gavin Bender, Isaac Copen, Jack Giorgianni, Everett Glass, Keegan Goddard, Andrew Habas, Sammy Lee, Mason Michlitsch, Logan Mikalis, Benji O’Rourke, Nicholas O’Rourke, Miller Smith, Henry Souza, James Stadt, Peter Thorn, Nikko Woodson, Tyler Worthington, Aiden Yates, Mason Zirkel