There was so much scoring in Pinole on Tuesday afternoon that one might think that they were in Panama City Beach or South Padre Island in the middle of March, not on an all-dirt infield between the Pinole Dog Park and the Pinole Skate Park. It seems that the scenic batter’s eye of trees on a mountain past center field suited the Dons hitters just fine. They sent 14 batters to the plate in the top of the first, scoring 8 runs. A day after 8 different Dons got a hit, 11 Dons reached on a hit Tuesday, with 5 of them having multi-hit games. A game that saw the Dons bring better coaching, fundamentals, hitting, baserunning, pitching, and defense was called after five innings.

The top three hitters in the lineup, Tyler Winkles, Cody Michlitsch, and Jimmy Cusumano combined to score 11 of the teams runs. The team hung up 8 stolen bags on the wall, with centerfielder Zach Birrell swiping three of them. Left fielder David Roux was hit by a pitch. Just once.

With their second double-digit tally (and double-digit margin of victory) in two days, the squad is sailing on a win streak, full of confidence, but we are all aware that the baseball gods are not to be taken lightly, and a third game this week could easily take the wind out of the sails. “You are as good as tomorrow’s starting pitcher” has a corollary in “your momentum is inversely related to your opponent’s starting pitcher.” And, to that effect, the Dons look to have Gavin Beers ready on eight days rest as they travel to Miramonte on this Thursday, with Tuesday’s starting righty A.J. Hastings going three innings and giving up one run before handing the ball over to lefty Riley Gates, who ceded to Cody Michlitsch after an inning and a third. The streaking JV team has now won four games in a row to raise their season mark to 6-4.