Mother Nature held off on her precipitation Saturday for the Acalanes freshman baseball team to begin their season with a doubleheader against the Tamalpais High School Red Hawks.
The unproven saying that hitters always lag behind pitchers in the early spring would be a good description of the opening game. Branson Smith started for the Dons, and sat them down nearly as quick as they came to the plate, striking out six in his three innings of work. Alas, the lone extra base hit of the game, in the top of the second, came home to score on a bang-bang play at the plate, and though catcher Joey Martin did his job and stuck a tag on the runner, someone else didn’t do theirs and the runner was called safe. Reid Martin followed Smith with three impeccable innings, and Tommy Terhar also shutout the Hawks in his inning on the mound. However, despite giving up only two hits and two walks all day, the Dons could only muster 3 hits themselves and failed to move them around, losing 1-0.
After the two teams feasted on barbecued burgers they were back at it. Cody Michlitsch got the start and froze more hitters than the snow seen over on the top of Mt .Diablo, striking out five, and the Dons were up 3-0 by the time he handed the ball to Gavin Beers. The Dons bats came alive, with Michlitsch, Smith, and Beers each collecting multiple hits, cheered on by the arrival of the women’s lacrosse team in the stands. Following a smooth 1, 2, 3 run through the Hawks in the fourth, Beers went flat in the top of the fifth inning. It went from bad to worse when a hit batsman sandwiched between three walks was then followed by two singles and a double. The Dons could not add to their tally the rest of the way, even though lefty Riley Gates shut out the Red Hawks in the 6th and 7th, and they dropped the second game 5-3.
Based on the opening weekend, we can expect the Dons to show good defense and pitching this year. They had no errors in 14 innings, and the pitchers combined for 21 strikeouts. Monte Vista game scheduled for Monday has been canceled due to rain, but Dons will host Dublin in a doubleheader this Saturday.