SANTA ANA, Calif. – The Santa Ana Dons Baseball team will start the 2018 season by hosting Chaffey College on Saturday, January 27th at 12:00 p.m. The Dons will begin the season ranked No. 13 in Southern California by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Pre-Season Poll.
Last year, the Dons finished with a record of 29-17, and 10-11 in the Orange Empire Conference, good for fifth place in the conference and a playoff bid. The Dons traveled to play No. 3 College of the Canyons in the first round and pulled off the upset, winning two out of three games to advance to the CCCAA Super Regionals.
Santa Ana met up with conference foe, and top ranked Orange Coast College in the next round. During the regular season, the Dons lost all three games against the Pirates but were not discouraged as they threw the first punch in the series with a 3-1 win. With their backs against the wall, the Pirates responded and took the next two games to end the Dons season in the Super Regionals.
In addition to a solid season, the Dons sent nine players to play at the next level, including three to NCAA Division I schools. With Head Coach Tom Nilles coming back for his fourth season, the Dons are excited and ready to have another successful year.