Flintridge Prep gets another complete performance against Pasadena Poly
PASADENA — The formula for success this season for the Flintridge Prep baseball team, ranked No. 3 in CIF Southern Section Division VI, has been the one-two punch of starting pitchers Robbie Leslie and Richard Pan.
In the Rebels’ first game against reigning Prep League champion Pasadena Poly on Tuesday, Pan got a complete game win at home. For the second matchup on the road, Leslie’s injured left knee kept him out, but in stepped sophomore Nicholas Davis.
“Our No. 1 went down with a PCL injury and we went down to our [junior varsity] level and brought up a pitcher for us,” Rebels Coach Guillermo Gonzalez said. “He pitched a helluva game for us and we are really proud of him.”
On Thursday, the visiting Rebels jumped out early and Davis did the rest, going the distance for the win in a 7-3 Prep League victory that keeps Flintridge Prep the only school unblemished in league play and atop the standings.
“We have been struggling, but today we came out hot,” Gonzalez said. “We had our situations and got some hitter’s counts. That is basically what happened today.”
Flintridge Prep (10-5, 6-0 in league) did the bulk of its damage in the first two innings, coming off of Panthers freshman Franco Alonso, who went the distance. The second win of the week over Pasadena Poly (3-12, 0-4 in league) leaves the Panthers winless in Prep League play, where they have won 20 straight titles.
“We are sophomore-heavy, which bodes well for the future, but sometimes you have to take your lumps,” said Poly Coach Buzz Cook, a former longtime Flintridge Prep coach. “It is amazing to me that for 20 years Poly was able to sustain the run that they have had and, more than likely, that is over.”
Davis was strong on the mound for the Rebels. The sophomore held the Panthers scoreless through the first five innings on three hits, before surrendering seven hits and three runs in the final two frames.
“[Davis] stepped up in a big way for us,” Rebels catcher Cole Pilar said.
The Rebels notched two runs in the first inning on two hits. Alonso hit Rebels leadoff hitter Hamilton Evans. The senior scored two batters later, following a single by Pilar, when Andrew Tsangeos drove in the first of his two runs in the contest on a single that dropped in just beyond the second-base bag. Pilar then scored from third on a groundout by Danny Chiarodit to make it 2-0.
Flintridge Prep, the defending Division VI champion, put up four runs on four hits in the second inning to push the advantage to 6-0. Evans drove in Theo Rosenfeld, who led off the frame with a walk, with a single. Pilar then doubled the Rebels’ cushion. The senior came to bat with runners on the corners and jumped on the first offering from Alonso, driving the ball over the raised fence in right-center field for a three-run homer.
“I just felt the flow of the game and home runs just happen,” Pilar said. “I just got a good pitch and put a good swing on it.”
Flintridge Prep scored a final insurance run in the top of the seventh when Tsangeos drove in Evans, who led off the inning being hit by a pitch for the third time, from third on a groundout.
“[Alonso] was obviously shaky at the beginning,” Cook said. “That has been an issue for us for the entire season at this point.”
Flintridge Prep and the Panthers will play once more, on May 7 at Poly, where the Rebels will look for the season sweep.
“Our biggest goal this season is to take [Poly] down for the first time,” Gonzalez said. “With this core of kids, we are going to have a real good program for the next couple years.”