Beer’s pitching, Lynch’s walk-off hit lift Crescenta Valley baseball over Burroughs
GLENDALE — Just three days earlier the Crescenta Valley High and Burroughs baseball teams took part in wild game that saw both of the teams’ starting pitchers knocked out in the first inning and 21 runs scored in an Indians’ win.
When the squads met for the second and last time Friday evening in a Pacific League matchup of first-place teams, both were looking for a little stability.
The Falcons and Indians received just that with a pair of fine pitching performances from Burroughs’ Kyle Nicol and Crescenta Valley’s Trevor Beer, who took shutouts into the seventh inning.
However, the Falcons were able to tack on the only run they would need on a two-out, walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning by Ryan Lynch to lift Crescenta Valley to a 1-0 victory at Stengel Field.
The win avenged a 13-8 setback for the Falcons (17-6, 9-1 in league) on Tuesday at the hands of the Indians. Burroughs (15-3, 8-2), the defending league champion, fell into a second-place tie with Arcadia (8-2 in league).
“When you score a lot of runs in one game and you always come back with a tight game in the next one, that’s just the way baseball is,” Burroughs Coach Craig Sherwood said. “We expected this to be a tight game and we were ready for that.
“Their pitcher pitched a great game and he’s going to be a great one for them for years to come. ... And we couldn’t ask anything more out of our pitcher, he did everything he had to do.”
Beer, a sophomore, threw seven complete, giving up four hits and striking out three.
Nicol, a senior who is headed to Cal State Northridge, also went the distance, surrendering seven hits and striking out four.
“This was a lot cleaner game than Tuesday,” Crescenta Valley Coach Phil Torres said. “And it was a lot less crazy than our last one.
“But I told their pitcher after the game that he did a great job. There were also some tough short-hop plays tonight for both sides and both sides made the plays. This was just a great high school game all around.”
In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Falcons got a runner aboard when Charles Weinmann walked on four straight pitches with two outs. Weinmann then stole second base to set the table for Lynch, the leadoff hitter. Lynch quickly fell behind 0-2 against Nicol and then proceeded to foul off the next two pitches. On the fifth pitch of the at-bat, Lynch connected and sent a sinking base hit into left-center that allowed Weinmann to motor home.
“I was just tying to battle in that at-bat,” Lynch said. “He kept coming at me with a curveball or slider and I was just waiting and trying to look for a fastball right down the middle. When I saw it, I just went for it and I’m glad it got in.”
Both teams had their chances to score throughout the game. Burroughs put runners in scoring position in six innings and Crescenta Valley did so in four.
The Falcons loaded the bases in the first inning with two outs after singles from Jamie Blank, Scott Vinceri (two for three) and William Smiley (two for three). But Nicol induced a roller to first base to get out of the jam.
The Indians had two runners picked off in the game. They loaded the bases with one out in the sixth when Randy Catlett singled up the middle, Jason Whaley walked and Omar Tejeda reached on an error at third. Jonathan Max then hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Vinceri, who threw home to cut down the runner. With the bases still loaded, the threat was extinguished when Max was picked off first base.
Burroughs also had a runner thrown out at home in the fifth inning on a passed ball.
Tanner Whitlock was two for two with a walk and Tejada had a double for Burroughs.
