Burroughs High baseball makes easy work of Arcadia

BURBANK — Whether on the hill or at the dish, the Burroughs High baseball team was flat out dominant in Friday afternoon’s Pacific League showdown against visiting Arcadia.

Burroughs put together two four-run innings and nearly missed a mercy-rule victory against the Apaches on an afternoon in which pitcher Danny Bustos took economical pitching to a different level in a 9-0 victory.

With its fifth straight win, Burroughs (15-4, 5-1 in league) remained atop the Pacific League with defending champion Crescenta Valley (16-3, 5-1), whom the Media City squad already beat in a 1-0 thriller earlier this month.

The Apaches dropped to 10-6-1 and 4-2 in league, which includes a 0-2 mark versus teams from the city of Burbank.

“Since the first day of practice, this team has come to understand that we’re not facing our opponent each game, but the game of baseball,” Burroughs Coach Craig Sherwood said. “If you play fundamentally sound baseball, it doesn’t really matter what your opponent does. That’s what happened today.”

Burroughs batted an impressive seven for 17 (.412) with runners in scoring position with two doubles, a sacrifice and nine RBI.

The heart of Burroughs’ lineup — Nos. 3-5 hitters Max Haddad, Tyler Lewis and Max DeAmicis — combined to go six for eight with two doubles, five runs, three RBI, two stolen bases and two hit by a pitch.

Burroughs nearly ended the game in the bottom of the fifth, already holding on to a 5-0 advantage.

The fifth inning began and ended with Haddad, who was hit by a pitch to the cries of “Larry’s” from the home dugout, stole a bag and scored on a double from Lewis.

“We say ‘Larry’s’ for every batter that’s hit because that gets them a combo meal at Larry’s [Chili Dog],” said Sherwood, whose squad was plunked four times Friday. “This might be the only team that’s excited to get hit and we’ll take it.”

The inning continued with a pair of run-scoring singles from Aidan Anding and Jason Whaley and a fielder’s choice run-scoring bunt from Anthony Bocanegra.

Burroughs had the bases loaded with two outs, up 9-0, and with Arcadia on the ropes before Apaches reliever Ryan Federico got Haddad to bounce out to end the inning.

“It’s funny,” Sherwood said. “Arcadia voted against the mercy rule at our league meeting and we almost used it against them today. Hey, I don’t agree with the rule, but it would have been nice to have saved my pitcher some work.”

Work might be a proper description for Bustos’ performance, which simultaneously appeared effortless. The senior right-hander needed only 64 pitches and never threw more than 11 pitches in any inning to an aggressive Arcadia lineup that connected on four hits, one of which was a double in the seventh inning.

Bustos finished with four strike outs and never allowed an Apaches base runner to advance past second, as Arcadia couldn’t advance the two runners it put in scoring position.

“I just wanted to throw early strikes and get ahead of them,” Bustos said. “They were up there swinging early and that helped my pitch count.”

Bustos’ early-strike viewpoint was shared by Arcadia’s starting pitcher, at least in the first inning.

Junior Noah Falcon jumped ahead of seven of eight batters in the bottom of the first, but struggled to close out the opposition.

Burroughs’ Ryan Galan was hit on a 1-2 count, advanced to third on a 0-1 single from Haddad, and both runners scored on a 1-2 single from Lewis.

Later in the inning, Chris Peres (three RBI) delivered a two-run infield single on a 0-2 count to further frustrate Arcadia’s efforts.

“Arcadia couldn’t execute that last pitch,” Lewis said. “We had a great two-strike approach and made contact.”

Burroughs added a run in third when Lewis scored on a sacrifice fly from Peres.

A big win precedes a big week for Burroughs, which hosts Pasadena (12-7, 4-2) on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. before the city showdown Friday against Burbank (9-7, 4-2) at 6 p.m.