Lafayette, CA - Non-League match-ups are always exciting, especially when two of the top teams in Northern California square off. This matchup between two teams on the cusp of the PBR Power 25rankings lived up to the hype. The Foothill High Falcons hosted the Acalanes High Dons and it was a game that showcased great pitching on both sides.

The Falcons sent ’20 LHP Seungmin Shim to the mound to battle against the Dons starter, ’20 RHP/3B Nick Kresnak, a University of Washington commit. Both teams came out with tons of energy and the chirping was coming from both sides as the teams could feel the magnitude of this game. However, both pitchers would quiet the dugouts as they both rolled through 3 innings of scoreless baseball.

The big and decisive blow came in the 4th inning off the bat of the Dons ’20 1B Tommy Thrasher. After a quick out to start the inning by Shim, Thrasher came to the plate and deposited a fastball that caught too much of the plate deep over the wall in left field. That put the Dons up 1-0, and Shim’s day was done after 4 innings, giving up that lone run while giving up 3 hits and striking out 2. The Falcons looked poised to respond in the bottom half of the fourth inning as Kresnak issued a leadoff walk and an error by the Dons 3B after the walk set up runners at second and third with no outs with the heart of the Falcons order coming up. Kresnak, however, had other thoughts and went on to strike out the next three hitters to keep Foothill off the scoreboard.

After a quiet top half of the 5th inning for the Dons, the Falcons looked to have caught another break in the bottom half. ’20 OF Sam Zevanove smashed a double to left field to lead off the inning and advanced to third on an errant throw by the left fielder caused by the wet field conditions. Kresnak again worked his magic and got out of it unscathed by striking out one batter and getting the unconventional 5-3-2 double play. The Dons were fired up and had all the momentum heading into the last two innings. In the top half of the sixth, after an infield single with two outs by Kresnak, Thrasher came to the plate and crushed his second homer of the day to left to put the Dons up 3-0 and to put the game away. The Falcons would go down quietly in the final two innings.

Offensively, the star of the game was Thrasher, who drove in all 3 runs for the Dons on his two home runs. On the mound Kresnak was fantastic for the Dons, going 6 innings giving up 2 hits while striking out 10. ’20 LHP Logan Hurd came on in the 7th for the save and looks to be a weapon for the Dons at the back end of games. Both teams are going to be a tough matchup for any team they play this year. The Dons are strong up the middle with a stud shortstop and strong pitching and have a lineup that will be tough for opposing pitchers to get through. They will need to play better defense because they might not get so lucky in the future if they give teams extra bases, but if they clean that up then they are a dangerous team. The Falcons will need to have better situational hitting and need to come through in the big moments if they want to win big games against tough teams. Look for both teams to make noise come playoff time and I expect both teams to make deep runs in the playoffs this year.

Scouting Notes:

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