Burbank baseball pulls away from Glendale in contentious contest
BURBANK — The Burbank High and Glendale baseball teams each opened Pacific League play last week with two losses.
The Bulldogs and Nitros were trying to break through for their first league triumph when the teams met Tuesday afternoon for their first of two games in four days.
With the score tied, Burbank was fired up by the ejection of their coach. After his departure, the Bulldogs erupted for nine runs over the fifth and sixth innings to hand visiting Glendale an 11-3 loss.
With the score tied at 2, Burbank coach Bob Hart was tossed in the fifth inning. The Bulldogs (3-7, 1-2 in league) proceeded to push across three runs in the fifth and added six runs in the sixth.
“When he got thrown out, that really motivated us and got us fired up,” said Burbank second baseman Daniel Ruiz, who was three for four with a double, triple, two stolen bases and four runs batted in. “We wanted to win it for our coach and that really helped us get going.”
Unfortunately things got testy at the conclusion of the game when the teams were shaking hands. Words were exchanged and players had to be broken up after some pushing and shoving.
Glendale (3-8-1, 0-3) had a 1-0 lead in the first inning and tied the score at 2 in the top of the fifth. But the Nitros’ pitching faltered in the latter innings and the Bulldogs took advantage.
“It’s about competing and staying in the ball game and that’s exactly what we did, but we just kind of fell off late in the game,” Glendale coach Kevin Chan said. “But that has kind of been our tale all season. We just give up too many walks. We get our share of hits but we really have to do a better job at limiting walks because that’s one of the things that keeps you in games.”
A trio of Nitros pitchers surrendered 10 walks.
Glendale got on the board in the top of the first inning when catcher Nolan Wong singled to right-center field and scored on a base hit to center by starting pitcher Thomas Kovarik.
Burbank answered to tie the score at 1 in the bottom half of the opening frame, as Max Meltzer (two runs scored) walked and was plated by a sacrifice fly to center by starting pitcher Matthew Porras (two RBI, two runs).
The Bulldogs surged ahead, 2-1, in the third when third baseman Davis Mieliwocki reached on an error, took second on a throwing error on the play and scored on a base hit to center by catcher Matthew Shaugabay (one hit, two walks, two runs scored and two RBI).
In the fifth inning, Nitros first baseman Trent Losararian doubled to left-center field and was plated by a single to left by pinch-hitter Ryan Kataoka (two for two) to knot the score at 2.
Bolstered by two walks, a single by first baseman Abiezer Delgado (one hit, three walks, two runs scored and an RBI) and a two-run triple by Ruiz, the Bulldogs plated three runs in the fifth to take a 5-2 advantage.
After Glendale got back a run in the top of the sixth, Burbank exploded for six runs in its portion of the inning to increase its lead to 11-3. In the inning, the Bulldogs brought 10 batters to the plate, had five walks, a hit batsman and three hits, including a double by Ruiz that scored two and a single by Delgado that scored one.
“I think for us, it all came down to timely hitting,” Burbank assistant coach Ron Capalbo said. “This whole season, we haven’t gotten the big hits when we need to with guys in scoring position. Today, I felt like guys who maybe haven’t had good starts to the season came through for us.
“I think there was the monkey on their backs to be able to get the first win in league. I know the guys really wanted to win today to get back on track in league.”
