SANTA ANA - A pair of errors and three wild pitches doomed the Dons in their 6-5 loss to Southwestern College in game one of the CCCAA Super Regionals. The series continues tomorrow, Saturday, May 11, at 1:00 p.m. with Southwestern (28-11) just one win away from punching its ticket to the Sectionals next weekend. The Dons (27-12), however, need a win to force a winner-take-all game three on Sunday, May 12.
The Jaguars scored first on a throwing error in the second inning following a stolen base allowing Daniel Goodrich to score from third. That run came in unearned as Tyler Sloan got a strikeout and a fly out, around a walk, to end the inning.
But the Dons came back to take their first lead of the game in the bottom of the second inning. Nestor Linares singled before taking third on Troy Baird's single. Frankie Nogales followed with a RBI-single that scored Linares before Baird scored on a passed ball. Nogales eventually came around to score on a RBI-single by Joshua Vargas that put the Dons up 3-1.
Southwestern would come back with two runs of its own in the top of the third to tie the game 3-3, aided by a Dons error. After a leadoff single, Sloan appeared to induce a double play, but an error not only kept both runners safe, but also advanced on to third. After a walk loaded the bases, Daniel Macias scored on a wild pitch before Goodrich scored Chris Allen on a sacrifice fly.
The Dons had another answer in the bottom of the fourth, as they reclaimed the lead at 4-3 when Alex Mascarenas singled in Cameron Baranek who reached on a two-out single.
The back-and-forth game continued with Southwestern plating two runs to take a 5-4 lead in the top of the fifth with both runs coming in on a double by Goodrich down the right field line. But the Dons would tie the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI-single by Daniel Martinez, Jr. that scored Garret Brown.
However, only Southwestern would find a way to score again when Goodrich hit an infield single that allowed Miguel Solano to score from third base. Solano, who reached on a one-out single, was on third base following back-to-back wild pitches during Goodrich's at bat.
Logan Roberts (0-3) took the loss for the Dons after allowing the game-winning run in the seventh inning on just two hits in two innings of work. Calvin Faucher (3-2) picked up the win in relief as he held the Dons to just one run on four hits over 3.1 innings. Dylan McDonald (1) picked up his first save of the season as he threw two shutout innings to end the game while not allowing a single hit.
