Dons can’t wrangle the last three outs in the bottom of the seventh, Cowboys get the walk-off win.

 

 

After holding the host Pokes to 1 run over the first six innings, a potpourri of dinks, dunks, bunts, and errors, with a sac fly thrown in, led to the Dons’ demise in the bottom of the seventh inning, on what otherwise would have been a great start to the week Monday afternoon. Starter A.J. Hastings scattered 8 hits over five innings of work, giving up just one run as he got out of a sticky bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the fourth. He followed this with a gritty fifth inning before being relieved by Cody Michlitsch who pitched a quick 1-2-3 top of the sixth.

David Roux had been the source of the Dons’ first two runs in the fourth inning. Following a single by third baseman Jimmy Cusumano, a base on balls by Jasper Stewart, who handled the catching duties, and a small-ball bunt single by Nico Roig, Roux knocked a hard ground ball back up through the box to give the Dons a 2-0 lead. The small ball continued in that frame, as Hastings helped his own cause with his second well-placed bunt of the day, this one ending with him ending up on second base.

The Dons could not pad their lead in the fifth or sixth, nor could the home team make up any ground in those innings. The booming two-out double in the top of the seventh by Jimmy Cusumano of course came with no one on base, as his table-setting teammates who had gotten on base with the assuredness of death and taxes the last game, did nothing of the sort this game. As he expired on second base, and the Dons’ traveling party decided where to have the post-game spread, the foreshadowing in the bleachers was thick. By the time the Dons had their first out of the bottom of the seventh inning, a sacrifice fly to center field, which happened to be the only ball hit out of the infield all inning, the score was tied with runners still on first and second. The next batter only had to leave the bat on his shoulder as a Dons’ RTI (run thrown in, for all of you keeping score in your scorebook) led to the happy walk off win for the home team.

Until the bottom of the seventh, the Dons had committed no errors during the game. Other than their scoring inning in the fourth, they only sent 5 more batters to the plate than the minimum in the other six innings. The JV squad will look to push their record past .500 when the travel to College Park on Tuesday afternoon.