Clay ArrittThe Santa Ana Dons took down the Fullerton College Hornets by a score of 6-3, completing a clean sweep of the Hornets on Saturday afternoon.
This win wasn’t quite as dominant for the Dons as the previous two against Fullerton, as they squashed the Hornets 15-4 and 22-6 on Tuesday and Thursday. This brought the Dons’ win streak to 10 and improved the team’s conference record to 8-1 and overall record to 25-2-1.
It’s been an impressive season for the Dons, and head coach Tom Nilles spoke about what’s been going well for them: “It’s been everything. We’ve hit a ton, but when we don’t hit, we pitch well and play good defense. It’s been a cumulative effort, where it’s been all three phases of the game playing well.”
The first run of the game came in the bottom of the second for Santa Ana after freshman center-fielder Evan Reiter hit a would be inning-ending double play ball, but it was muffed by Fullerton shortstop Diego Vasquez, and a run would come around to score on the play.
Then up stepped sophomore shortstop Jack Mueller. With a 1-2 count, Mueller got a fastball over the heart of the plate and deposited it over the left field fence for a three-run homer to make it 4-0.
Mueller has been leading the team offensively, and is hitting .444 with six doubles, a triple, two home runs, 22 runs and 16 RBI as well as with six walks and no strikeouts during the team’s 10-game winning streak. He also has an 11-game hitting streak of his own.
“Keeping it simple, and trying to get a pitch I could do damage with,” said Mueller on what’s been going well for him at the plate. “Just feeling free and loose and putting on a good swing.”
Freshman pitcher Zach Ireland was on the mound for the Dons. He has been the team’s ace this season, leading the team in games started and innings pitched while compiling a 5-0 record and 3.50 ERA. He had his best and longest start of the season against the Hornets on Saturday afternoon, going seven innings, allowing just two hits and one unearned run.
“I felt very comfortable throwing anything today, but the change-up was working. It worked early, it worked often, and I was able to get ahead with that pitch and put guys away,” said Ireland.
Ireland labored last week against Santa Barbara, allowing four runs across four innings. “I’m super thankful I got the chance to throw this week after struggling a little bit last week,” he added.
Santa Ana extended their lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, when sophomore designated hitter Barrett Ronson hit the first pitch of the inning over the right field fence to make it 5-1.
“They were throwing me fastballs most of the series. I was sitting on a fastball out, got it and put a good swing on it,” said Ronson. It was his sixth homer of the season, leading the Dons. “I had a little home run drought, going a month without one. So it felt good seeing the guys erupt.”
The Dons added one more run in the inning when freshman catcher Treson Arita sent a fly ball to right for a sacrifice fly.
Fullerton added two runs in the top of the 8th to make it a 6-3 game, but sophomore pitcher Colin Galvin came in and shut the door for a 1-2-3 ninth, acquiring his fifth save of the season.
Santa Ana has a big series ahead of them next week against Riverside, where their conference title goals will be put to the test. Both the Dons and the Tigers are 8-1 in the Orange Empire Conference, tied for first place.
“Everything we want is sitting in front of us. It shouldn’t be hard to be motivated,” said coach Nilles. “It’s the OEC, it’s hard to win games in this league, but these guys are taking care of business the way that we expect them to take care of business.”
