Burroughs baseball wins battle of big innings against Santa Monica
BURBANK — It was an eventful fifth inning in Tuesday’s baseball game between Burroughs High and Santa Monica.
With a two-run lead, the Indians surrendered five runs in the top of the fifth to fall behind the Vikings.
However, Burroughs wouldn’t trail for long.
The Indians plated five runs in the bottom of the fifth to earn an 8-6 victory at home in the consolation round of the Easton Tournament.
“I’m really proud of the way that they battled back,” Burroughs coach Craig Sherwood said. “After you go up and have a lead and then you go down and lose that lead, it can deflate you a little.
“But to be able to come back like that, have some good quality at-bats and put the ball in play on the ground and put pressure on their defense, I was happy with that.”
After jumping out to a 3-0 lead, the Indians (2-2) held a 3-1 advantage heading into the fifth inning. Burroughs pitching struggled in the top of the frame as Sherwood used five hurlers in the stanza against the Vikings (1-4).
In the fifth, Santa Monica sent 11 players to the plate, scoring five runs on just three hits while taking advantage of four walks and an error to jump in front, 6-3.
“I’ve got nine or 10 pitchers who are pretty equal and they all can come in and do the job, and that’s a great thing to have,” Sherwood said. “Our pitcher of the game in our last game couldn’t get an out today, and that happens.
“I tell the pitchers don’t take it personally when I pull you out of a game, because, hey, that was what today is and tomorrow will be a whole new day.”
Trailing by three runs, Burroughs rebounded by pushing across five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to gain the lead back, 8-6. Sending 11 batters to the plate, the Indians had two hits, four walks, one hit batsman and took advantage of one error.
Julian Jaramillo (two for two) drove in a run with a single to left field, Jessie Rodriguez (two walks) drew a bases-loaded walk to score a run and a run was scored on a Revin Diego groundout in the fifth for Burroughs.
“When we fall behind like that, we just pick each other up,” said Burroughs’ Jacob Barrera. “We’ve played enough games to get to know each other and each other’s strengths and know what we’re capable of.
“It’s a process and we’re still getting there. But we battled a lot this game.”
It was one swing by Barrera that put the Indians in front, 2-0. In the bottom of the first inning, the right fielder took a 1-0 pitch and firmly planted it beyond the left-fiield fence for a two-run home run that scored Nathan Palafox, who had walked.
Burroughs made it 3-0 in the second when Rodriguez walked and was plated by a double down the right-field line my Collin Johnson.
The Vikings made it a two-run game, 3-1, with a run in the top of the third inning.
Santa Monica put runners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh innings, but came away empty both times.
“We knew we just had to figure things out and luckily we did,” Barrera said.
Twitter: @jefftsports
