Brady Wall knew it was coming. No one wanting to sit next to him on the bench. No one saying much about how he was lining up College Park batters and sending them back to the dugout shaking their heads. After being snakebit in successive bottom-of-the-seventh walk off loses, the Dons needed the stellar performance on the mound that Wall brought on Thursday. The scoreboard read zero runs and zero hits for the Falcons through the first. Then through the second. And third. And fourth. No one on the bench was going to jinx this outing.

The offense quickly struck for two runs in the bottom of the first. Reid Martin stayed hot in his first at bat of the game, with an opposite field single scoring both Tyler Winkles, who had led off the inning with a walk, and Jimmy Cusumano, who got the last laugh that inning after being hit by a pitch. Now pitching with a lead, Wall never really was in trouble, coasting through his fourth frame with fewer than 50 pitches on the day. Then, if a pitcher’s teammates exploding for a big offensive inning ever hurt a pitcher’s chances, Thursday was that day. David Roux led off the bottom of the fourth with a shot over the centerfielder’s head, part of a hit parade that had four of the first five Dons at bat that inning getting hits. Then, after two runs were in, and two outs had been recorded, they added three more free runs on two walks, a hit batsman, and another walk and it stood 7-0, Dons.

Coach Jim Burleigh, his pitcher stuck on the bench for that marathon half inning, calculated his next move, and looked masterful himself, going to his bullpen and asking Reid Martin to come in and get the horse back to the corral. For a moment, it wasn’t the fans’ favorite move, as what baseball fan wouldn’t want to be present for a no-hitter? However, Burleigh knew that Martin could get it done, and that is exactly what he did, scattering four hits over the last three innings, and preserving the shutout for the Dons.

The Dons were opportunists Thursday afternoon, patiently taking eight walks, stealing five bases, and very importantly, they committed no errors. Reid Martin led the Dons with three RBIs.

The team has another week coming up with three games, starting with Foothill in Pleasanton on Monday, then a pair of games against Benicia, away on Tuesday and then back home on Thursday.