On March 8, the De Anza College Dons traveled to the hills of San Bruno to face conference rival the Skyline Trojans. The weather conditions were less than ideal, with heavy fog surrounding the diamond throughout the duration of the game, which proved to influence the outcome. De Anza aimed to earn their first conference win of the season, but the second place Trojans had different plans.

De Anza came out swinging, as first batter Danny Hall jump started the Dons’ offense with a double, putting himself in scoring position. However, he was left stranded at third base, setting the tone for offensive struggles throughout the day for De Anza.

“We didn’t capitalize on our opportunities,” said Assistant Coach Junior Rivera. After Hall’s double, the Dons went hitless in the next five innings. Rivera attributed the lack of offensive productivity to undisciplined at-bats by his players.

Jamie Wagner took the hill for De Anza, facing a potent Trojan lineup. Despite their reputation, Wagner said that he treated it just like any other game.

“I told myself to just go right after them, and don’t be intimidated,” said Wagner. His approach worked well, pitching 6.1 innings, while allowing only four runs off of seven hits.

“I was just trying to keep us in the game, and shut them down.”

His counterpart, Skyline’s Marcus Pointer, pitched an excellent game, going eight strong innings, while allowing three runs off of five hits, racking up six strikeouts. He was so effective that during a portion of the game he retired eleven consecutive De Anza batters.

The unusual weather circumstances took effect in the bottom of the first inning, when Skyline’s Jeff Ramirez hit what would have normally been a routine fly ball to the outfield, which fell for a double because none of De Anza’s defenders could identify the ball through the thick fog. This bizarre play set the table for Dan McCarthy’s sacrifice fly later in the inning, scoring Ramirez from third base.

Skyline’s single run in the first inning was enough to have the lead up until the top of the seventh, when De Anza’s Brian Roby sparked a rally for the Dons, striking a well-placed ball into shallow left field, which popped out of the glove of the diving shortstop. Roby was hustling the whole way out of the batter’s box, ending up at second base.

Later in the inning, Steve Harlow broke the Dons’ hitless streak with a line drive single into right field, driving in Roby for the first run of the day. Tommy Erlin was the runner trailing Roby on the base path, and he was waved toward home by the third base coach as well.

Unfortunately for the Dons, the centerfielder made a perfect throw to home plate, and Erlin was called out on a bang-bang play. Nevertheless, De Anza managed to tie the game at one all. The Trojans wasted no time answering back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh inning. After three doubles, and three runs surrendered, Wagner was removed from the mound.

“I think I was getting tired. They started to figure me out, and they had some pretty good players,” said Wagner.

Kazuya Matsumoto was summoned from the bullpen in relief, getting the next two batters out to end the inning, but the damage had already been done. The Dons were able to scrap together an additional two runs in the eighth frame, but in the end their efforts came too little too late, adding one more tally under the frustrating loss column this season.

“We had our opportunities, but couldn’t get that clutch hit,” said Wagner.

The Dons overall record now stands at 2-13, while they have yet to manage a single win within their Coast North Conference through five games. “We’re a better team than a lot of the teams we’ve lost to, and I think we’re coming around,” added Wagner.”

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