Burroughs baseball staves off Glendale to start league
BURBANK — Burroughs High’s baseball team stranded seven runners and couldn’t score over the first three innings of its Pacific League opener Tuesday afternoon against Glendale.
As the Indians offense struggled early on, the Nitros cashed in one of their opportunities to take a one-run lead.
But Burroughs finally made good on its opportunities, pushed across three runs in the fourth and one in the fifth and withstood a last-inning surge by Glendale to secure a 4-3 victory at home.
The Indians (7-6) left two runners on base in the first inning, loaded the bases in the second and stranded two more in the third.
“In that situation, I’m looking for our big guys to come through with some hits so we can score some runs,” said Indians coach Craig Sherwood, whose team stranded 12 runners in the game. “And when we have that many guys on base and we don’t score, it’s telling me that as a coach I need to be controlling the game more, maybe put down some bunts and things like that.
“Sometimes the team dictates your coaching. When your guys aren’t coming through with the runs, you have to figure out a different way of doing things. It’s up to me to maybe to make some decisions as we go along.”
Glendale (3-6-1) had plenty of problems of its own pushing runners across, stranding eight runners.
The Nitros out-hit the Indians, 8-5, but Burroughs drew a whopping nine walks, with Glendale garnering five.
Glendale had runners at second and third with one out in the second inning and couldn’t get on the board.
The Nitros broke through with a run in the third inning to take a 1-0 lead. Second basemen Daven Eidem (three for three with a walk, three stolen bases and two runs scored), singled stole second and scored on a base hit to right field by shortstop Darian Jenks.
Glendale put runners in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings but couldn’t bring any of them home.
“We have had a couple of games like that when we had runners on or we’ve had the bases loaded, or runners at second and third with no outs and just don’t drive the guys in,” Glendale coach Kevin Chan said. “Not executing in those situations certainly hurts us, but at the same time, we are learning from that and we have been progressing.
“I am proud of the way this team has played, especially in our last three games. It has been the best baseball that I’ve ever seen us play and as long as we can keep that up, I think we can do some damage.”
Burroughs took advantage of some struggles by Nitros starting pitcher Thomas Kavarik to score three runs in the fourth inning to surge ahead, 3-1.
The Indians loaded the bases on three consecutive walks to catcher Matthew Diaz, designated hitter Collin Johnson (two walks, two runs scored) and shortstop Brian Garcia (one hit, three walks, one run scored). The next batter, first baseman Nathan Palafox (three walks), walked to score Diaz and right fielder Jacob Barrera singled to left to plate Johnson and Garcia.
“It was really huge for us to win our first league game and get off to a good start,” Garcia said. “This is what we’ve been working up to, our league play. This is good to get our momentum going.”
The Indians made it 4-1 in the fifth when Johnson walked and eventually came around on a single to left field by Palafox.
The Nitros battled back with two runs in the seventh inning and put the winning run on base. Right fielder Michael Tincenor started the rally with a single through the left side and Eidem followed with a base hit to left. Both scored on a single to center after a fine 10-pitch at-bat by Jenks (two for four). After a walk by pinch hitter Joel Leon, Glendale had runners on first and second, but they were left stranded after Garcia ended the game with a leaping catch at short on a liner.
Xavier Dubon got the win on the mound for Burroughs, going 2 2/3 innings, not allowing a run or a hit while striking out five and walking two.
“This was a battle for us,” Sherwood said. “Kevin is doing a tremendous jobs with those kids at Glendale. When they play like they did today, all that does is make our league better and I love that.”
Twitter: @jefftsports
