It felt like summer in Napa Valley on Friday when the Dons took on the Vintage Crushers on a
sundrenched afternoon in the valley. There was no whining in Wine Country on this beautiful day.
Fortunately there was winning in Wine Country for the boys in blue.
“Rubber Arm” Peter Thorn took the mound and made his team leading 14th appearance in 18 games. Peter threw three shutout innings, gave up two hits and struck out three Crushers in a clean outing.
He was relieved by Tyson Bates, who continued his solid season with three shutout innings of his own. Tyson walked, one and gave up no hits in his outstanding appearance.
Miller Smith came in to close it out. He pitched the last inning and gave up one hit and no runs to
complete the shutout for the Dons. The Acalanes pitching staff has only given up one run in the last 10
innings. The defense recorded their second consecutive errorless game. You know what they say about
good pitching and defense? It wins!!!
Offensively, like Thursday, the boys got all of their runs in one inning. It was a 0-0 game heading into the
top of the 6th inning. Nico O’Rourke led off with a bomb to the deepest part of the yard in left
centerfield. It one hopped the fence for a double.
Not to be outdone, Sammy Lee followed with a double of his own down the left field line to score O’Rourke and keep the Don’s dugout and fans fired up. That broke the seal on runs and gave the Dons a 1-0 lead. Then it started to get crazy.
Mason Michlitsch laid down a perfect bunt to get on, Mason Zirkel grounded out, but knocked in Sammy
Lee, Zirkel then stole second and was knocked in by a single from James Stadt, who advanced to second
on the throw home to unsuccessfully throw out Zirkel. Dons up 3-0.
Keegan Goddard then doubled to plate Stadt. Andrew Habas followed with a ground rule double to get on for the third time of the game, and score Goddard to put the boys up 5-0. It was the fourth double of the inning.
Gavin Bender then singled to score Habas and put Acalanes up 6-0. Nico O’Rourke stepped up for his
second at bat of the inning and walked, before a pop up to shallow right ended the inning. Whew! That
was a lot of action in one inning. Eleven batters and six runs later, the good guys were up 6-0, and that’s
the way it ended. For the final out Gavin had to channel his inner football stance to make this “tackle tag”
The Dons are 9-9, against some stern Division 1 competition, heading into to their last 6 games. They
need your support. The next game is at home on Tuesday against first place Clayton Valley Charter at
4pm. The following week Campolindo comes to town. Jump on the bandwagon! It’s exciting baseball.
Go Dons!
