VIKINGS WIN, STAY UNBEATEN IN MEL
Simmons, Riley, Smith lead Vanden to fourth victory, beating Vacaville
Houston Astros fans all remember the Killer B’s — Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, and Lance Berkman. Now Vanden High has unleashed the Killer D’s — Dylan Simmons, Devin Riley and Dekker Smith.
It may not make the best pun (Killer Bees, get it?), but the D’s proved just as deadly in leading the Vikings to a 14-2 victory over host Vacaville High on Thursday afternoon.
With the win, Vanden improved to 4-0 in Monticello Empire League play, while Vacaville fell to 1-3.
Simmons pitched a solid four innings, yielding two runs on six hits and striking out five. He worked out of a jam in the third inning after hitting two batters, but apart from that glitch his control was solid and he did not walk any hitters.
“Dylan was great,” said Vanden head coach Ryan Adams. “They got a run early, but I think he settled in and incorporated his secondary pitches. You are going to be successful if you are around the strike zone and rely on the defense.”
“I just put it on the plate, not too far in the middle,” said Simmons, a senior who is in his third year as a starting pitcher. “I throw strikes because I know my team will back me up.”
Simmons had closed out the 9-8 Vanden win over Vacaville on Tuesday, so he had reached his pitch count after four innings. David Anderson Jr. came on to pitch two scoreless frames, the game ending after six innings due to the 10-run rule.
The Vikings were up 10-2 in the top of the sixth with men on first and second and two out, when Adams called for a double steal, which was successful. That may have raised some eyebrows, but Adams said he was not trying to pile on.
“We were going to apply pressure,” he explained. “We had a couple of injuries this week so we really didn’t want to extend the game anymore. We wanted to finish it if we could. It was not out of disrespect. We respect those guys and the coaching staff… It’s high school baseball, and funny things