Thursday was a perfect day for baseball at Ken Souza Field. The temperature was warm, the grass was a
vibrant green in the afternoon sun, the skies were blue and the Dons were in white for this pivotal
league game against Benicia High School.
Senior Andrew Habas got the “flash the leather party” started with a strong, running, over the shoulder catch in deep right center field for the first out of the game. Not to be out done, one hitter later, first baseman Mason Michlitsch snagged a hard, high line drive and stepped on first for a double play to end the first inning. Talk about setting the tone to start the game. Both players would go on to make several key defensive plays throughout the contest for the Dons.
Mason Zirkel started on the bump for the Dons and went 4 scoreless innings to notch his third win
against no losses for the season. Mason only allowed 3 scattered hits with no runners able to advance past first base.
Logan Mikalis pitched the 5th and 6th inning and gave up one run on 3 hits to preserve the lead even admirably keeping his cool when bases were loaded in the 6th.
Lefty Sully Bailey pitched the 7th inning and closed the door on the Panthers. He gave up one hit and let the Acalanes defense do the rest. The game ended with a sharp groundout to James Stadt, “The Minister of Defense” at shortstop to conclude an errorless performance by Don defenders.
All of the Acalanes scoring came in the first inning. Keegan Goddard led the game off with his fourth
walk in two games. Andrew Habas hit into a fielder’s choice, before the Panthers walked Gavin Bender
to put two on. Nico O’Rourke singled to load the bases and bring up Sammy Lee. Sammy delivered one
of the biggest hits of the season with a hard line drive to left field that scored Habas and Bender and
gave the Dons a 2-0 lead.
Mason Michlitsch followed with a tough grounder to third for a single. A hustling Lee beat the throw to
second to keep the rally alive and allow Nico O’Rourke to advance to third. Benji O’Rourke followed
with a sacrifice fly to right field to knock in his sibling Nico and give the Dons a 3-0 lead. Nothing like a
little brotherly love to keep the offense rolling!
The 3-1 win was the Dons first league win of the year. It was a well played contest that brought back the
winning formula of pitching and defense. The boys travel to wine country on Friday to take on Vintage
High School.
Another highlight of the Acalanes home games are the Little League pitchers that come out to throw first pitch. Yesterday’s guest was Senior Tyler Worthington’s little brother Grayson. Just a fabulous moment.
Come out and see the boys play on Tuesday against Clayton Valley High School at home.
Pitching and Defense Win! Go Dons!