Walk-up songs can be traced back to 1972 with New York Yankees reliever Sparky Lyle, who took the mound to “Pomp and Circumstance” (aka the graduation song). These songs took off in the 1990s when players began requesting their own music. Most are bravado-heavy genres like rap and rock, like “Enter Sandman” by Metallica for Mariano Riviera and “Wild Thing” by the Troggs for Ricky Vaughan in Major League. Others are a bit less intimidating, such as “Careless Whisper” by George Michael for Josh Reddick, “Call me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen for Justin Turner and Freddie Freeman, and “Dirty Laundry” by Don Henley for Pat Burrell. In some cases, teammates get into the action, such as in 2009 when Ken Griffey Jr. had “The Nutcracker” by Tchaikovsky played at Safeco field for Adrian Beltre after he came off the DL from an injury to his … you can probably figure it out.
After the Dons jumped out to an 11-0 lead after the first inning, about the most suspenseful part of the game was trying to figure out if there is a mercy rule in high school baseball, if the wind speed would exceed the old Candlestick Park, and waiting to hear what walk-up songs DJ Jon Gwaltney would play. My favorites included the aforementioned “Careless Whisper” for Cole Gwaltney, and “A Country Boy Can Survive” by Hank Williams Jr., which may have been used for both Austin Wampler and Wyatt Cooper.
Although the team only had 7 hits for the game, they managed to put 16 runs on the board aided by the Panthers’ 11 walks, 2 HBPs, pitchers who allowed base runners to run freely, and 5 errors (cue the “Carmen Overture” by Georges Bizet). David Gonzales and Ben Pecci led the way, combining for 5 hits, 5 RBIs, 3 walks, and 4 runs.
Brady Quinn and Augie Martinez also had hits. The Dons offense has now scored a remarkable 54 runs during their 6 game winning streak.
Brendan Miles got the start on the mound. He went 3 innings giving up 3 runs on 3 hits and 1 HBP. Brady Wall pitched the next 2 innings, giving up 1 runs on 4 hits.
Hank Bauer finished the game, going 2 innings while giving up 1 run on 1 hit, 1 walk, and 1 HBP.
in the field, Brady Quinn did his best Derek Jeter impression, making some incredible plays at shortstop to keep several balls from reaching the outfield.
David Roux, Michael Hamilton, and Trevor McCarthy all got time at first base.
Get to know Coaches: Jim doesn’t know what he would pick for his walk-up song, and Dan picked “Tom Sawyer” by Rush.
The team wraps up the 5-game home stand today (4/11) at 4pm against a 9-0 College Park team