Offensive switch gets turned from cold to very hot as the Dons batter the Broncos’ bullpen.
The JV squad had a tale of two cities on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon this week against league foe Northgate. Facing the best starter Northgate had to offer In Lafayette on Tuesday, hits were hard to come by, a true winter of despair in the bottom half of each inning. Dons starter Gavin Beers cruised through his first four innings of work. However, he was being matched zero for zero by his opponent on the mound, as the Dons had only a measly two batters reach base in the first four innings. Unfortunately, the top of the fifth inning became the age of foolishness, as Beers continued to pitch effectively, but the Dons suddenly could not throw to a base, and the Broncos pushed across three unearned runs. Brendan Miles pitched the last two innings in relief, giving up two hits and one run.
The Dons stormed into Walnut Creek on a warm Thursday afternoon like they were ready to storm the Bastille, stung from their 5-0 loss on Tuesday. With Cody Michlitsch starting for the Dons, throwing three scoreless innings, and getting 5 runs in support during the first three and a half frames, suddenly it was the best of times, the season of light. The Broncos, thanks to some scrambled radar by Michlitsch in the bottom of the fourth started a rally with a hit batsman, an error, a walk, and another hit batsman. Brady Wall jumped in to douse the fire but couldn’t get it under control until it was 5-5. Wall added a very clean fifth and sixth innings. Both Michlitsch and Wall were throwing a high percentage of strikes and the gloves of the Dons were sharp behind them. Their comfy lead erased, the Dons went right back to work in the fifth, quickly adding four runs of their own as they started what would become a parade of Broncos relievers from the bullpen to the mound, as the host team needed six pitchers to make it through the seven innings. When it was all done, the Dons had pounded out 12 hits, taken 14 walks, had three hit batsmen, and scored two touchdowns, while only giving up two hits, and the Dons players, coaches and fans felt they were all had gone direct to Heaven, Dons 14-5.
Tyler Winkles and Cody Michlitsch reached base 11 out of their 12 combined plate appearances, nicely setting the table for the middle of the lineup bats of catcher Jasper Stewart and right fielder Nico Roig, who had four and five RBIs respectively. Every single Dons batter reached base and 7 scored runs. Lefty Riley Gates pitched a scoreless seventh in a non-save situation, striking out two.
The Dons sneak in a makeup non-league game on Monday in Livermore, and follow with a two-game home-and-home series with College Park next Tuesday and Thursday.