After splitting their first two games in Marin last week the Dons started the home season against Amador Valley and Monte Vista High Schools on Thursday and Friday.
Peter Thorn started on the hill for the Dons, for his third appearance in three games, as the boys took on the Dons of Amador Valley first. It was a tough first inning with a few bad breaks. Mason Zirkel came in and put out the fire with 4 and 2/3 innings of relief, giving up one earned run. Sully Bailey made his first appearance of the year and threw a perfect sixth inning before Miller Smith finished the game on the mound, giving up one run.
Offensively, the boys just couldn’t get it going against Amador. Nikko O’Rourke, Sammy Lee and Everett Glass got hits, but an early 5-0 deficit was too much to overcome in a 7-1 loss to start the home season. Dons record moves to 1-2.
But we all know that there is no crying in baseball. The boys had to get up, dust themselves off and get ready for another powerful D1 program, with the Monte Vista Mustangs coming to town the next day. It’s always darkest before the dawn!
Taking on bigger Division 1 schools like Amador and Monte Vista early in the 2023 baseball season, really pushes the Dons to rally together and compete. The Dons were aiming to repeat last year’s pre season result of knocking off top 25 ranked Mustangs. Mission accomplished with a 5-0 shutout on Friday afternoon. Dons return to .500 ( 2-2)
As told to West Coast Preps reporter who was onsite for the game.
“It was a big win last year,” said Acalanes pitcher Tyson Bates. “We wanted to bounce back, and do it again. We really felt like getting that win against a top D1 program out of the way really gets our boys going.” For the boys was the headline of the article.
From the hill:
At the start of the game, Dons got a jolt of energy when Junior Henry Souza took the mound for his first outing of the year, after recovering from a pre season injury. Henry looked great with an efficient 26 pitch, two inning effort, giving up no hits, no runs and only facing 7 batters. Acalanes’ pitching staff was doing what it does best, staying confident and trusting its defense to make the plays behind it. After Souza set the tone, Tyson Bates came in relief and kept the positive, shutout momentum going. Pitching 3 1/3 innings, Tyson allowed just three base runners. Bates is yet to give up a run this year with six scoreless innings. Peter Thorn, in his fourth appearance in four games, got a fly out and finished the deal in the top half of the seventh, as the trio combined for a shutout effort closing down any Mustang offense.
Post game pitcher’s interview with West Coast :
“I just think that out here at our own field, I know that the boys have my back, so I can just throw strikes and I know they’ll be there for me,” Bates said. “Like Stadt with that play at shortstop. They’ll always have my back to get stuff done.”
All of the Acalanes’ defense proved up to the task on game day. The speedy outfield continued to make plays and flash the leather. James Stadt made an exceptional play at shortstop, adding to a day where he also contributed an RBI single.
The Acalanes offense needed just one run, and it got that in the fourth inning against Monte Vista’s D1 St. Mary’s College commit.Andrew Habas led off with a single and then stole second, followed by Stadt’s hard RBI single to RF to make it a 1-0 ballgame. Keegan Goddard stepped up and roped an RBI single to score Stadt and extend the Acalanes lead to 2-0.
That was the second hit of the day for Goddard, who reached base three times in four plate appearances, with a pair of hits, one walk, one RBI and two steals. He also played a stellar left field for the day.Habas produced another single in the sixth, this time scoring two while capping the scoring at 5-0. Habas went 2-for-3 with two hits, two RBIs, one stolen base and several put outs in center field.
Andrew Habas also had some commentary for West Coast reporter
“I think today was just getting the foot down early,” Habas said. “First guy had some velo and then the second guy was a little bit slower, so just getting a foot down, having an approach of knowing what we want to do each pitch, not trying to get too big.”
Base stealing is a significant trait for this year’s Acalanes squad, and it really showed on Friday with five steals – two from Goddard, one from Habas, one from Gavin Bender and one from Nico O’Rourke. Bender also added a single in his first at-bat, for his first two hit game of the season. O’Rourke also had a hit and a walk.
“That’s something we take pride in is base running,” Habas said. “We don’t have some of the biggest hitters, so we’ve got to work on our base running. We’re definitely getting good timing on the pitcher.”
It was a great 5-0 win for the program. Sammy Lee added a hit and gunned a runner out at second and Nikko O’Rourke had a hit, a walk and scored a run. This should be a great confidence builder for the young season. It was a solid win for the boys. Go Dons!
The tough schedule continues this week with a road game against Saint Patrick’s in Vallejo on Tuesday and a home game against Foothill High School on Wednesday. Pitching and defense win!
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