Burbank baseball upended by Chatsworth
BURBANK — With the start of Pacific League action a week away, the Burbank High baseball team is still trying to put things together.
Burbank coach Bob Hart purposely scheduled a tough stretch of nonleague games, including four in the Babe Herman Tournament, to give him an opportunity to assess the strengths and weakness of the Bulldogs leading into league action.
“We’re looking in a lot of different directions and continuing to evaluate and assess where we are,” Hart said after host Burbank suffered a 7-1 loss against Chatsworth on Tuesday in a tournament contest. “We want to play a lot of the good teams so we know where we stand.
“We’re playing a lot of younger players and we’re banged up here and there. We’re doing some good things and it’s a chance for the younger guys to push the older guys in performance.”
Burbank (2-5) finished with seven hits. The Bulldogs, who took third in league and reached the CIF Southern Section Division IV quarterfinals last season, couldn’t stop the Chancellors (7-3) early on.
Chatsworth scored two runs in the first against Burbank pitcher Daniel Ruiz, who struggled with his control by walking two and hitting one with a pitch.
A bases-loaded walk to Andy Ambriz gave Chatsworth a 1-0 lead. Chatsworth made it 2-0 on a double play.
“Daniel struggled with his control early on,” said Hart, whose team hit into two double plays. “It’s tough when you hit a batter and walk two.after facing four batters.”
The Chancellors extended the lead to 3-0 in the second on a single by Miguel Martin. A run-scoring double by Alex Milone made it 4-0.
Chatsworth took a 5-0 lead in the third on an error by the third baseman.
Chatsworth’s Ryan Barry had a run-scoring single in the fifth to make it 6-0.
Burbank cut the deficit to 6-1 in the sixth on a single by freshman shortstop Ryan King that brought home Matt Moreno.
The Chancellors closed out the scoring in the seventh on a sacrifice by Stevan Gomez.
King, who finished with two hits, said the Bulldogs are looking to regroup.
“The first couple of innings were tough, but I liked the way we battled back and had some chances,” said King, who had a single in the third. “We got some hits, but couldn’t string them together in a timely fashion.
“I think we’ll get better.”
Chatsworth received three hits from Barry and two from Roman When.
Weather permitting, Burbank will wrap up the tournament at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Cleveland in Reseda.
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
