A balmy but breezy baseball afternoon in Mill Valley saw the Dons offense get a quick upper hand over the Tam High Junior Varsity, building a 4-0 lead through their half of the fourth inning. The Dons manufactured their first two runs in the top of the second, with LF David Roux proudly trotting home as his protégé Jimmy Cusumano earned an RBI the hard way, being plunked, while Cody Michlitsch then showed a much easier way to get one, bringing home 1B Reid Martin as he worked a walk off the Red Hawks starting pitcher. A crooked number seemed to be looming for the Dons in the top of the third, as they loaded the bases with nobody out, thanks to a double laced to right center by C Jasper Stewart, sandwiched by two bases on balls. Alas, they could only squeeze out a single run on a Brady Wall sacrifice fly. A Tam High throwing error and a steal of third base by the fleet feet of Zach Birrell was followed by an RBI single by Michlitsch, and the lead was pushed to four.
Meanwhile, righty A.J. Hastings faced only one more than the minimum batters in the first three innings. However, he must have used up most of his luck before St. Patrick could intervene, as he could only do his best not to slump his shoulders when he only let one ball out of the infield in the bottom of the fourth, but saw his lead slip away, as all of the breaks and bounces went in the favor of the home team in that frame. Like watching a row of dominoes start to fall, run followed run followed run, until the Dons came off the field with no lead at all, the score locked at four after four.
A chance to regain the momentum in the fifth fell flat with a 1-2-3 top of the inning, and Brendan Miles came on in relief of A.J. in the bottom of the 5th. In an inning that went like Alfred Hitchcock, maybe more like Wes Craven, writing copy for Grantland Rice, it was 6-4 Red Tailed Hawks after a gut-wrenching combination of walks and errors, wild pitches and errant throws back to the pitcher.
The Dons picked one of those runs back when 3B Cusumano brought pinch-runner Gavin Beers home on a sacrifice fly to right field. However, that top of the sixth inning was another inning with three Dons left on base, the inning coming to a deflated end when Jasper Stewart’s deep fly ball to center field was chased down and caught by the Tamalpais center fielder. Miles held the home team in check in the sixth, but it was three up and three down for the Dons in the seventh.
The JV Dons play on the road at James Logan on Tuesday and at Piedmont on Wednesday, followed by a home contest Friday against the Pirates of San Leandro.