The Varsity Baseball team opened league play on Tuesday against the Northgate Broncos in Walnut Creek. It was a beautiful, sunny day for baseball and the Dons did not disappoint. They jumped out to a commanding 9-0 lead after 5 innings, before cruising to a 9-3 win to push their record to 15-0!
Workhorse Peter Thorn got the start on the mound for Acalanes and continued to perform at a high level, going 6 innings and giving up 3 late hits and 3 late runs. Thorn struck out 2 in his 82 pitch outing. This was Peter’s 9th appearance of the season.
Brady Quinn made his 3rd appearance of the season in the bottom of the 7th inning. Brady threw strikes and only needed 10 pitches to retire 3 Bronco hitters in order to close out the victory for the boys. He trusted his defense and they didn’t let him down.
The entire defense was simply fantastic, recording another errorless game. Dons hurlers only struck out 2 Northgate hitters in the contest, so 19 of the game’s 21 outs came from Acalanes fielders. The boys are strong everywhere, but they say that you need to be solid up the middle to win. Catcher Benji O’Rourke has been incredibly steady behind the plate. The double play combination of second baseman Mason Zirkel and shortstop James Stadt has been lethal, including a sweet DP against Northgate in the 6th inning when the team needed it on Tuesday, and center fielder Keegan Goddard catches everything. Two thirds of the world is covered by water, the other third is covered by Keegan Goddard.
Offensively the Dons scored early and often. They ran all over the Broncos defense, stealing a whopping 10 bases. The Dons were led by right fielder David Gonzales who had an astounding 7 of the teams 10 steals, with 2 hits, 2 walks and 4 runs scored. David is having an outstanding all around season.
Benji O’Rourke knocked in a couple of runs and third baseman Gavin Bender returned to the lineup to get 2 hits to go with an RBI and 2 runs scored. DH Ando Butner added 2 hits and James Stadt plated a couple of runners with his 2 RBIs.
The boys play the Broncos again on Thursday at 4pm in Lafayette. Let’s pack the house for the team’s first league home game. Get fired up! You just can’t beat fun at the old ballpark!
Go Dons!!!