The De Anza College baseball team lost to the Mission College Saints 19-7 on Saturday, March 8.

Sophomore left-handed pitcher Lucas Yovanovich started the game on the mound for the Dons and sophomore left-handed pitcher Nich Morehead started for the Saints.

Mission pulled to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning with a bases-loaded groundout by freshman infielder Chris Cordoni. The Saints went on to get two more runs in the inning, making the score 3-0.

In the bottom of the third, the Dons got their offense going with a double by freshman infielder Johnny Regan and an infield single by freshman outfielder Robert Del Real. With two outs, freshman infielder T.J Conroy put the Dons on the board with a single to center field scoring Regan and Del Real to make the score 3-2.

Freshman outfielder Cole Lang followed up with a double to bring Conroy home and even the score 3-3. Lang was then picked off at second to end the inning.

The Saints didn’t let the Dons rest long as they got two runners on base to start the fourth inning.

After a pop out to the pitcher and a fly out to right field recorded the first two outs of the inning, sophomore catcher Erik Colombini stepped to the plate and hit a three run home run over the center field wall to make the score 6-3 in favor of the Saints.

After the home run, De Anza head coach Scott Hertler replaced Yovanovich with freshman right-handed pitcher John Buchman and Buchman got the last out of the inning.

De Anza rallied once again in the bottom of the fourth and evened the score on a weird turn of events. Two walks and a single loaded the bases for the Dons with one out and prompted Mission to change pitchers.

The new pitcher for the Saints, sophomore right-hander Hayden Hibberd, gave up a bases loaded walk to Del Real to make the score 6-4.

Sophomore outfielder Jonathan Collins stepped up to the plate next for the Dons with two outs and the bases loaded. Collins hit a single up the middle which scored sophomore infielder Michael Lee easily, but there was a close play at the plate when Regan tried to score.

Regan failed to slide on the play and ended up bumping into the umpire who stumbled backwards and called Regan safe after pausing for around four or five seconds.

Before the call was made, Mission catcher Colombini flipped the ball to the pitcher’s mound assuming Regan was out and started to trot to the dugout before the umpire finally called the runner safe, making the score 6-6.

A strike out by Conroy ended the rally for the Dons.

This turn of events would prove to be the last high point for De Anza as Mission piled on runs to fortify the outcome of the game. Mission added two runs in the fifth and seven runs in the sixth to make the score 15-6 and put the game out of reach for the Dons.

“We made mistakes and they capitalized,” Collins said. “We have to do better in all facets (of the game) for nine innings.”

Mission tacked on four more runs in the top of the eighth inning and the Dons scored one run in the bottom of the eighth to end the scoring for the game, making the final score 19-7.

“We competed (and) played hard for the most part,” Hertler said. “Cole (Lang) got to pitch, that should help down the road.”

He said the starting pitchers and bullpen need to pitch better going forward.

The Dons’ next home game is on Thursday March 20 at 2:30 p.m. against College of San Mateo.