The Monterey Peninsula College Lobos did not beat the De Anza College Dons during their home opener – the Dons beat themselves Feb. 8.

The game started shaky for starting pitcher Mason Sperakos, who balked twice in the inning.

With runners at second and third with one out after the balk, the Lobos capitalized on Roeder’s error. Chris Untereiner hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Caio Errico and giving the Lobos an early 1-0 edge.

Despite the Dons giving up four walks as they approached the bottom of the fourth inning, they still held the Lobos hitless and only trailed 1-0. Then, De Anza erupted.

The Dons scored five times in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 5-1 lead. Run-batted in singles by right fielder Victor Barron, catcher Gary Foster and a bases loaded walk by first baseman Rob Garrison fueled the rally. The scoring capped off with a bases loaded two-run double by center fielder Will Gibson.

The Lobos trimmed De Anza’s lead to 5-3, after first baseman Garrison’s throwing error sparked a two-run sixth inning rally. Had Garrison not committed the defensive miscue, pitcher Brian Fischer’s double play ball two batters later would have ended the inning with no runs scored.

The Dons tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Monterey Peninsula pitcher Corbin O’Reilly hit Taylor Martin with the bases loaded, forcing in a run and widening the Dons lead to 6-3.

Then, in the top of the seventh, it was the Lobos’ turn to erupt.

Another fielding error by Roeder loaded the bases with one out. After a run came in on an run-batted in single by the Lobos’ first baseman Jeremy Green, center fielder Matt Rosa (who went 2-5) delivered a clutch two-run game tying single, knotting the game up at six. With two outs and runners on second and third, pitcher Lorenzo Ojeda threw a wild pitch that brought in the Lobos’ tie-breaking run.

The Dons blew scoring chances in the late innings. With the Lobos leading 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Kai Washington led off with a single but was picked off trying to steal second base.

The Dons tried to rally once more in the bottom of the ninth inning. After left fielder Nathan Kadlecek walked to lead off the frame, a wild pitch advanced him to second.

The next batter, pinch hitter Mike Oram, attempted to bunt Kadlecek over to third. Although he had three decent pitches to bunt at, Oram took strike three on the outside corner at the belt.

The rest of the inning was not much better for the Dons. Right-handed hurler Caio Errico, who moved over from shortstop, ended the game and earned the save by striking out the side looking.

The Dons had plenty of chances to score but could not come through in the late innings. They left 10 men on base in the game.

O’Reilly earned the win, pitching two and one-third plus innings while giving up one run on four hits.

Ojeda was tagged with the loss, lasting one inning and surrendering four runs on four hits. De Anza used nine pitchers in the game and walked a combined eight batters.

On Feb. 10, the Dons headed to Monterey Peninsula to take on the Lobos in an away-game opener and lost with a final score of 14-0.