Dons Rally Again for 10-8 Win over Grossmont

Tommy Anderson drove in the go-ahead run with this single in the eighth inning of the Dons 10-8 win over Grossmont College.
Tommy Anderson drove in the go-ahead run with this single in the eighth inning of the Dons 10-8 win over Grossmont College.

SANTA ANA - Showing a flair for the dramatics to start the season, the Dons (2-0) used a late rally for the second-straight game to pick up a 10-8 win over Grossmont College (0-1). Today's win follows Saturday's 8-7 walk-off win over Oxnard College to open the season.

The Dons were forced to overcome a 7-3 deficit heading into the bottom of the seventh inning after Grossmont scored four runs in the sixth and another run in the seventh. That Grossmont lead overtook SAC's 3-2 lead that the Dons built using three solo home runs by Austin Pritchard, Jeff Murray and Colin Winn in the second and fourth innings.

Justin Mellano started the late rally with a leadoff single in the seventh inning before eventually scoring on a RBI-double by Andrew Ramos. Patrick Cromwell capped off the Dons three-run seventh with a solo home run.

The Dons finally overtook the Griffins in the eighth inning with four runs on two hits while also getting help with a Grossmont error. Winn tied the game when he scored on an error before Tommy Anderson singled in Nate Cervantes and Mellano to put SAC up 9-7. The Dons final run came across when Anderson scored on a wild pitch.

Grossmont would add a run in the top of the ninth inning to make the final score 10-8.

Andrew Hodges (2-0) picked up his second win in as many games as he allowed one run, unearned, on one hit in the final two innings. Aaron Cross (0-1) took the loss for Grossmont after allowing four runs, one earned, on two hits while recording just one out.