On Thursday, Feb. 28, the Dons’ baseball team faced off against the College of San Mateo in their first intra-conference match of the season.

“We played with a lot of intensity and a lot of enthusiasm the whole game,” said Coach Scott Hertler. The Dons’ hard throwing lefty, Tommy Erlin, took the mound looking to have a strong start in conference play, but things did not go in his favor.

The final score was San Mateo 8 and De Anza 4, dropping the Dons’ overall record to 2-9. “It’s a rough start, but the kids are working hard and we’re trying to get it right, and we’re not that far away. If we can get a couple breaks, we can turn this thing right around. And the attitude is good and the kids are trying and they are playing hard,” said Hertler of his team.

In the second inning, San Mateo Bulldogs catcher Adam Chickman hit a towering 2-run drive to center field, providing the Bulldogs with an early advantage.

Brett Hart of the Bulldogs added a home run in the fourth inning, and at the end of the fifth inning the Bulldogs’ lead had been extended to seven.

Dons’ pitcher Erlin was knocked out of the game after little more than four innings, surrendering five earned runs that stemmed from seven hits while accumulating five strikeouts. Nevertheless, Hertler was quick to defend his pitcher, attributing part of his struggles to five defensive errors that were committed saying, “Against a good team like San Mateo, you can’t give them extra outs because they are going to capitalize (on that), and they were able to do that.”

Although the Dons were losing by a wide margin, they didn’t just give up.

In the sixth inning, their offense sparked with a lead off single by center fielder Daniel Hall, who later came around to score.

Then with two outs, designated hitter, Jamie Wagner, who went 2 for 4, started a two-out rally with an RBI (runs batted in) double, scoring Brian Roby.

De Anza’s Steve Harlow, along with Adam Wells each contributed to the rally with RBI singles. Wells finished the game with three hits. By the end of the inning, the mighty Dons had pushed across four runs, while racking up six hits. “We swung the bats extremely well,” said Coach Hertler.

Kazuya Matsumoto was the pitcher summoned from the De Anza bullpen to relieve Erlin. He was exceptional in his relief effort, allowing only 1 run and 2 hits in 4 and two-thirds innings. The only run he allowed came in the eighth inning, off a hit by San Mateo’s Tim Busbin, putting the score at eight to four in favor of the Bulldogs.

Unfortunately, the Dons offensive attack was kept in check for the remainder of the game, “We had a lot of at ’em balls. It could have been a closer game than it was if we would have had a couple balls drop,” said Hertler.

“Offensively we’ve been competitive all season long. Once we start getting a couple of balls here and there to fall, then it will start getting contagious and we’ll be able to push across more runs.”

Luis Cardenas is a staff reporter for La Voz. Contact him at [email protected].