Baseball players began chewing sunflower seeds in the 1950s. It was slugger Reggie Jackson who made them popular in 1968. Today, it is estimated that MLB players consume 300,000 bags of seeds per year. There is even a term for people, Seeders, that can eat them after putting a bunch in their mouth at the same time. Despite their popularity, they get no respect. They are not mentioned in “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, they were banned by the MLB for one season during the pandemic in 2020, they are sometimes flavored in ways they shouldn’t such as sushi-flavored, their shells are considered litter by some, and they have been blamed for an injury called Sunflower Seed Finger (SSF) where a player reaches into their pocket to grab seeds and stresses their pinkies. This really has nothing to do with this article other than I think we have a lot of seeders and novices like myself who eat one at a time amongst the players and fans, so I just wanted to provide some fun “facts”.
After scoring a total of 5 runs on 15 hits in the first 4 games of the season, the coaches made some changes to the batting order and the team responded in a big way, exploding for 13 runs on 14 hits. Despite losing his bat to an equipment malfunction with the knob falling off, Cole Gwaltney continued his hot hitting, leading the team with 3 hits. Michael Hamilton and Wyatt Cooper each had 2 hits, while David Gonzales, Henry Garbo, Nicky Fosina, David Roux, Ben Pecci, Brady Quinn, and Augie Martinez also registered hits. Wyatt, Brady, and Augie each had 2 RBIs on the day as the team did a much better job converting with runners in scoring position.
The pitching and defense for the Dons continued to excel with the team yielding only 1 run on 4 hits and 1 walk for the day. Jake Colaco got the start on the mound. He went 4 innings giving up 1 run on 1 hit with no walks and 7 strikeouts.
Cole made his pitching debut for the season, going 2 innings giving up no runs on 2 hits and 1 walk. Brady Wall came in to close, going 1 inning giving up no runs on 1 hit and 1 walk. The defense continued to play well, including a SportsCenter-worthy diving play by centerfielder David Gonzales to end the top of the first inning.
Get to know the Coaches: Jim’s favorite bands are Rolling Stones, Boston, AC/DC, and any country band, and Dan’s are Rush, Radiohead, and Dave Matthews Band.
By the way, if anyone ever needs David’s original seeds, come find me in the stands. Go Dons!
The Dons play their next game on the road at Foothill today, March 8 at 3:30pm