The Varsity boys baseball team tried to keep their winning streak alive on the road, visiting the Carmel
High School Padres on Saturday. When the game started the skies were blue and the temperature was
in the upper 60’s at an intimate, well kept ballpark in the Carmel Valley. It didn’t take long, however,
for the infamous Monterey Peninsula marine layer to creep in and cover the skies.

Henry Souza started on the hill and had a 1-0 lead before he threw a pitch, thanks to a sacrifice fly to left
field by Everett Glass that scored Keegan Goddard and gave the boys a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning. Henry
logged his third start and went two innings, giving up a hit, two walks and no runs.

The Dons kept the offense going in the second inning when catcher Sammy Lee led off with a double.
Andrew Habas walked and was followed by Nikko Woodson, who hit a sharp single past the shortstop to
knock in Lee. With one out Goddard grounded out to short to score Habas and the Dons took a 3-0 lead.
The 3rd inning got interesting. Gavin Bender led off the top of the frame with his second home run in
two games to give Acalanes a 4-0 lead heading into the home half of the inning.

Peter Thorn relieved Souza for his team leading 8th appearance of the season. He gave up 3 runs to the Padres to tighten the game at 4-3. Leads swing quick at this ball park.

Nikko Woodson led off the 4 th with a mammoth home run to deep left center field that landed in a grove of Monterey Pines. The ball was absolutely crushed! It gave the Dons a 5-3 lead and a little breathing room in the offensively friendly ball yard at Carmel High. Woodson had a nice game with two hits, a walk and two RBIs.

Mason Zirkel took the mound in the bottom of the inning and calmed the seas for the Dons with 3 shutout innings of relief. Mason gave up no hits and no runs as he faced the minimum 9
batters in his 3 inning outing.

Heading into the 7 th Nico O’Rourke was able to coax a one out walk to get on. Then it was, wait for it…
“Boom! Boom! Out go the Lights!”…. Mason Michlitsch stroked a line drive over the center field fence for a two run homer, followed by a solo home run by Sammy Lee to push the Acalanes lead to 8-3!

Tyson Bates came in to finish the job in the bottom of the 7th , relieving Zirkel on the mound. Bates
continued his strong season with a clean inning to send the fans on their way home to battle Bay Area
traffic on the long, but happy, drive back to Lafayette.

The victory kept the winning streak alive at 6 games, with wins in 7 of their last 8 contests. The Dons hit four home runs for the day and took advantage of the small ballpark. Defense and pitching also traveled well. Stay hot boys. Go Dons!