The JV baseball team celebrated their home opener against the Alhambra Bulldogs JV squad and the disappearance of the rain and cloud icons from their weather apps on Thursday, February 22 with an 8-5 win. Austin McManamon made his debut on the mound for the Dons and looked like he might be the bell cow of the pitching staff this season. The righty got the start and went four strong innings, scattering four hits, giving up just one earned run and one walk while striking out six. McManamon and his fastball that hit in the 80s was supported by a defense that was as sure of a thing as a one-legged duck swimming in a circle. A couple of double plays up the middle helped the relief efforts of Riley Gates and Gavin Beers, who brought the Dons through the last three innings.
The Dons twice bounced back from one-run deficits, both times fueled by the Acalanes debuts of third-baseman Jimmy Cusumano and shortstop Tyler Winkles. Cusumano led the team in hits, going 3 for 3, and Winkles led the team with three RBIs.
The Dons outhit the Bulldogs 7 to 6 and were the beneficiaries of four Alhambra errors and two balks by Alhambra pitchers. The Dons’ defense was almost as pretty as the 67-degree, wind-less day at Ken Souza Field, as they had a single error. The opening-day win marked the Acalanes debut of six players.
On the second day of the young season, the JV baseball team traveled up the 4 to Brentwood to face the Patriots and their excellent pitching staff. A.J. Hastings got the start for the Dons and the teams matched zeros for the first two innings. He gave up one hit in two innings, efficiently needing only 24 pitches to complete his two innings before the ball was passed to Riley Gates, seeing action for the second time in two days. Gates, who is credited for getting the Dons’ program’s golf cart back up and running, leaked across a couple of runs in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly and a bloop hit that fell in no-man’s land in short right field. He bounced right back from that run-scoring inning to throw two shutout innings before Cody Michlitsch faced the Patriots in the bottom of the sixth.
The Dons had a few too few hits on the day, with Tyler Winkles, outfielders Nico Roig and Kyle Woodson, and A.J. Hastings each collecting one single. Notably, the tone of the game quickly changed when the Patriots got out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first, and only twice more in the game let Dons runners into scoring position. In an example of the saying “The pitching is there before the hitting in the spring”, the Patriots went home victorious, 2-0.
The JV Dons are back at it next week, hosting SRV JV on Wednesday February 28th, their first of four games in six days
Woody at the bat
