Danny Zandona continued his dominance on the mound on Tuesday, as the Santa Barbara Dons squeaked by the visiting Ventura Cougars 3-2 in their Channel League opener.
The sophomore right-hander has earned all of Santa Barbara’s three wins this year, throwing at least six innings in each start.
Zandona struggled early, allowing two runs in the first two frames, but settled down to blank Ventura (3-6, 0-1) the rest of the way.
“He really buckled down after that, “ Head coach Fred Warrecker said. “He started throwing his off-speed pitch for a strike, and he really pretty much dominated for the next four innings that he pitched.
“I didn’t really feel like myself for the first two innings,” Zandona said. “They’re a good hitting team, and they were sitting on my fastball a little bit, so I started mixing in my breaking ball to get ahead of guys.”
The Dons (3-3, 1-0) were able to get the lead back in the first after Zandona surrendered an unearned run.
Will Allison led off with an infield single, and Collin Dewell followed with a bunt single but reached second on a throwing error to put two runners in scoring position.
Second baseman Jack Crummer continued his torrid hitting, roping a curveball off of the left field wall for a double, scoring Allison and Dewell.
After tagging and moving to third on a sac fly, Crummer then scored on a ground ball by Trey Barrett.
Crummer attributed his early season success to having patience at the plate.
“I’ve just been waiting for my pitches,” Crummer said. “Not taking the pitch that I can’t handle.”
The Dons nearly relinquished their one-run lead in the seventh inning. Collin Dewell came in to replace Zandona and walked the second batter he faced.
After a ground ball moved the potential tying run to second, the Ventura batter hit a hot shot to shortstop Joey Gonzalez, who bobbled the ball, eliminating the possible out at first. But Gonzalez had the presence of mind to fake a throw to first, wheeling around to catch the runner rounding third. Gonzalez fired to third, and the runner was tagged out in the ensuing pickle to end the game.
“A different kid hangs his head in that situation, but there’s always something else to do,” Warrecker said. “That’s something we can all build on for the rest of the season.”
The Dons will travel to Buena on Friday.
VENTURA 2 SANTA BARBARA 3
Ventura… 110 000 0 — 2 6 1
SB 300 000 X — 3 3 2
V – Doherty and Castro SB – Zandona, Dewell (7) and Eaton
LP – Doherty (2-1) WP – Zandona (3-1)
2B – V – Doherty, SB – Crummer
