Acalanes’ baseball team won the 2025 NCS Division 2 championship, defeating Rancho Cotate 7‑1, and now the Dons are stepping onto an even bigger stage. Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, is calling, and it’s time for the Acalanes community to answer! On Saturday, April 18, in a night game, Acalanes will face Marin Catholic in a preseason showdown. This…
Somewhere in your garage, a closet, or the back corner of a dusty attic, there’s a piece of baseball history. Maybe it’s a glove that still holds the shape of your hand. A bat with pine tar stains. Cleats that carried you through a big hit, or a perfect warm summer evening running the bases. You might not have touched…
Baseball isn’t just a game—it’s a full-blown ceremony, cloaked in superstition and stitched together by rituals as old as the infield dirt. From the pint-sized pros of Little League to the thunderous crowds of the MLB, players cling to their customs with the grip of a well-oiled glove. Lucky socks? Essential. Hats that haven’t seen a washing machine since Frozen hit theaters?…
Three hours on a bus. A fired-up home crowd. The weight of playoff expectations. For most teams, that’s a lot to walk into. But the Acalanes Dons? They didn’t flinch. They didn’t hesitate. They didn’t just show up—they showed out. ALL IN! On Tuesday night at Chico High School, the Dons delivered a performance that erased any…
In blistering, surface-of-the-sun heat, the Acalanes turned up the temperature even more, scorching Rancho Cotate 7–1 to claim the 2025 North Coast Section Championship. Leading the charge? None other than freshly graduated Brady Quinn, who tossed his cap on Friday and then turned around Saturday to toss five shutout innings. He allowed only two hits, struck out one, walked two, and…
The Acalanes Dons are headed to the NCS Championship after a gritty and electrifying 4–2 win over Cardinal Newman on the road on Wednesday. And, the Dons came out swinging…literally. Leadoff catalyst Ando Butner stepped in, worked the count to 2-0, then said ‘enough waiting around’ and obliterated a 92 mph fastball deep to left for a leadoff home…
The stage is set for Wednesday. The stakes are sky-high. It’s the North Coast Section Semi-Finals and the Dons are coming. ALL IN! Acalanes baseball isn’t just showing up. They’re storming in with chemistry and a laser-focused mission: survive and advance. Fueled by fearless seniors, the taste of an NCS title in their mouths, and a brotherhood forged in…
Welcome to Dons Playoff Baseball, read the GameChanger welcome message. The message continued… giving the weather update: Saturday in Moraga—sunny skies, 59 degrees, real feel of 68. No video highlights? What?! NCS forbids any videotaping of the game. Tragic. Because this was the kind of game that deserved its own ESPN 30 for 30. Things That Come in Tens: Ten runs.…
Smith Was the Maestro. The Defense Was the Symphony. Call him B Steady. Call him B Stealth. Call him B Money. Whatever moniker you choose, Branson Smith was absolutely cash on Wednesday. The right-hander didn’t just pitch, he went to work with basically 3 up and 3 down each inning. Six quick innings, eight strikeouts, one hit, no walks, no runs, no drama, and…
This isn’t just another game. This is playoff baseball—and your Acalanes Dons are charging in with fire, focus, and nothing to lose. After a season of walk-off wins, clutch hits, high-wire finishes, and gritty, grind-it-out team play, the Dons have arrived exactly where they belong: the North Coast Section (NCS) Division 2 playoffs. It all goes down Tuesday at 4…
