In a neighborly battle in Walnut Creek on Monday afternoon, the JV baseball squad jumped to a quick 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning and never looked back, defeating the Las Lomas Knights JV team, 9-3. All of those first inning runs were unearned. Austin McManamon then took the ball for the Dons and provided yet another solid start, going 4 2/3 innings before Gavin Beers baffled batters for the final 2 1/3 frames. McManamon shut the Knights down in order in the first, kept them scoreless in the second, leaked a couple of runs in the third, and shut them down in the fourth again, thanks to a Web Gem by SS Tyler Winkles. After inheriting a couple of runners in the bottom of the fifth, Beers proceeded to strike out five of the nine batters he faced.

It was a tough day to be a Los Lomas pitcher, as the Dons were aided by the gifts of seven Las Lomas errors. None of the nine runs scored by Acalanes were earned runs. Once those gifts were on base, the middle of the Dons’ lineup did some damage, with David Roux, Brady Wall, and catcher Jasper Stewart each driving in two runs apiece. Roux was hit by a pitch in the 3rd inning and has now been hit by a pitch more than once in every eight plate appearances over the past two seasons.

The team looks to even their record on the road on Thursday, traveling to Mill Valley to face the Red-Tailed Hawks. Their road trip continues with a game at Livermore on Friday afternoon.