Burroughs baseball puts on power surge against Burbank

BURBANK — It’s summer, but the baseball rivalry between Burroughs High and Burbank was renewed Thursday.

PHOTOS: Rivals Burbank and Burroughs VIBL baseball playoffs

Although the regular spring season is almost seven months away, the cross-town combatants squared off in the second round of the Valley Invitational Baseball League playoffs.

The Indians had a fine offensive showing, putting together three big innings to earn an 18-3 victory over the Bulldogs at Burroughs High.

Taking advantage of some struggles on the mound by the No. 13-seeded Bulldogs, the Indians, seeded No. 4, scored four runs in both the third and fourth innings and nine in the seventh to easily get past their cross-town foes. Burroughs tallied 18 hits in the game.

“When you have 21 outs in a game and 15 of them are strikeouts, there’s no way you’re going to win the game. Simple as that,” said Burbank Coach Bob Hart, whose team ends the summer with a 3-7 record.

The win puts Burroughs (16-6) into the quarterfinals of the playoffs. The Indians will host No. 12 Loyola Saturday in a game that will be at 11 a.m.

The Indians have enjoyed a fruitful summer that has seen the team come together and make some noise. With Thursday’s victory, Burroughs has won 13 of its last 15 games.

“This is the first time a Burroughs team has been in the quarterfinals in this summer league,” Burroughs Coach Craig Sherwood said. “In 14 years in the VIBL we have never made it to the second game. So that’s a great accomplishment.

“We have played a lot of games. We’ve have played over 90 since last winter and we had seven last week alone. But although we might be a little tired, we want to keep going. This group has really come together as a team this summer.”

It took Burroughs a couple of innings to get going, but once it did, it was able to score runs in bunches and chase Burbank pitchers.

“Our bats were going off today,” said Burroughs designated hitter Noah Hoed, who was three for four with a walk, a triple, four runs batted in and three runs. “We have been hitting the ball really well lately and we were able to put the bat on the ball and score a lot of runs today.”

Burbank actually jumped out to a 2-0 lead with two runs in the top of the third inning. The Bulldogs pushed the runs across on RBI singles by Randy Higgens and Conner Lockheimer.

But Burroughs answered back in its half of the third with four runs. Tanner Whitlock (two for five with two RBI), Roy Hirota (two for four with two RBI), Chris Peres (three for four with a double and three RBI) and Randy Catlett (two for five with two RBI) all drove in runs in the inning.

“We really didn’t capitalize on some of the opportunities that we did have,” Hart said. “We weren’t able to pitch as well as we are capable of and those things hurt us. And Burroughs played well; they hit the ball well.”

Burroughs extended its lead to 9-2 with four more runs in the fourth inning.

The Bulldogs were able to get a run back in the fifth when Danny Porras walked and scored on a groundout by Chandler Robbins.

The Indians sealed the deal by plating nine runs in the sixth inning. Burroughs brought 14 batters to the plate and the first nine scored before Burbank could record the first out. The big blow was delivered by Hoed, who cleared the bases with a triple to center field for three RBI.

Jake Noud was two for three with a double for Burbank.