Dons overpower Gauchos

Baseball game date: March 13, 2012.

Gauchos’ sloppy play caused a coach to kick the bucket. Literally.

“We just didn’t play defense today,” Head Coach Sommer McCartney said. “This was bad baseball.”

The Dons defeated the Gauchos 10-4 Tuesday, behind sophomore starting pitcher Bruce Tolliver’s nine strikeouts.

Saddleback College got the assist, committing five errors and allowing nine earned runs.

“Strikeouts are key,” said Tolliver. “I need to work on throwing strikes. But two hits and a run isn’t bad.”

Tolliver threw six innings and allowed one run on two hits and four walks.

Saddleback’s pitching couldn’t compensate for the defensive holes, and may have precipitated the team’s downward slide.

Gauchos lefty starter Evan Manarino imploded in the second inning, allowing six of seven runners to score. Manarino lasted one and one-third inning, surrendering six runs, all earned, on five hits and two walks.

Center fielder Dylan Jones led off the inning with a single. He stole second base and scored the first run of the game after third basemen Adrian Garcia singled him home.

“I missed a couple of fastballs early in the count but they kept giving ‘em to me,” Garcia said. “I was just trying to find a way to get the barrel on the ball.”

Manarino allowed eight consecutive batters to reach base. Unfortunately, he couldn’t blame the Gauchos’ error-struck defense.

SAC Head Coach Don Sneddon, however, found room for improvement, pointing out how the team scored just one run off of multiple errors.

“If we we’re playing a higher tier club we wouldn’t have won,” Sneddon said.

The Dons (14-5) continue Orange Empire Conference play Thursday as the team travels to Golden West.