LAFAYETTE, Calif. – Berkeley entered Saturday’s game at Acalanes with only three games played, but they didn’t need to shake off any rust in a 7-1 victory highlighted by a four-run first inning and a complete game from Daniel Beadles.
The right-handed junior hurler scattered four hits over seven innings, striking out three and inducing three double plays. Beadles received more than enough support from the offense. Elijah Fairchild rapped a single to right to lead off the game, one of three hits for him on the afternoon, and after he was bunted to second, Manny Selles drew a walk and Leo Asfar loaded the bases with a single. Catcher Nikhil Beasley then roped a base hit to left to score two and two batters later he and Asfar scored on a Marlow Buettner double.
While Acalanes starter Henry Souza made it through the inning, he did not come out to start the second. Instead, Peter Thorn took the mound and allowed two runs on six hits over the next 4 and 1/3 – an RBI single by Selles, driving in Fairchild, who had tripled; and a sac fly by pinch hitter Reilly Marston-Chakan. In total the Yellowjacket pinch hitters went 3-for-4 with two RBI, part of a 13-hit effort by the team.
“We needed to bounce back, the kids did a great job,” Berkeley coach Curtis Sandeford remarked. “Just coming out here and battling and key hits and all that good stuff.”
Acalanes had at least one baserunner in all but the first and third innings, thanks to two hit batsmen, a walk, and a pair of errors. An additional error on a wild play in the fifth allowed the Dons’ only run to cross the plate. With Sammy Lee at first, Andrew Habas reached on an infield single. The attempt to nail Lee at third was awry, and Lee scampered home. Other times, however, the Dons fell short. They were caught stealing in the fourth with runners at the corners and nobody out, saw a sharp liner get nabbed by Asfar to double off Gavin Bender at first with two on and one out, and end in the sixth, and ended the game on a 6-4-3 double play with two runners aboard.
“Execution is the name of the game sometimes,” Acalanes coach Connor Hornsby said. “You try to put a crooked number and things start to go your way with errors, and cause a little commotion on the basepaths, and then you hit into a double play.”
Beadles limited Acalanes to one baserunner through the first three, and seemed unfazed whenever Acalanes started a threat.
“I like a close game, but it was close enough today,” Beadles said, crediting Fairchild’s hitting and the team’s defense as keys to the victory.
Berkeley’s win came the day after losing to Heritage, 7-3. The Yellowjackets have a busy week ahead, with games scheduled on all five weekdays except for Friday.
“We’re just getting started ‘cause the rain has kinda slowed us down,” Sandeford added. “We’re very deep, we have a lot of pitching, we swing the bat well. I expect to win league…and go deep in the playoffs.”
Acalanes, which had won five of six before falling to Pittsburg on Wednesday (with the one loss being a forfeit to Liberty), is at Las Lomas on Tuesday.
“We’re getting better as a team, as a culture,” Hornsby stated. “Losing sucks but we lost in a way that we were more together as a team. We’re pulling together more as a team and sometimes it doesn’t reflect in wins and losses.”
