Glendale High baseball team’s playoff chances take hit in 6-0 defeat
PASADENA — Time is getting short for the Glendale High baseball team in its quest to qualify for the CIF playoffs.
Glendale entered Friday’s Pacific League road contest against Pasadena in a three-way tie for fifth place with Hoover and Burbank. The top four teams automatically qualify for the postseason.
Unfortunately for Glendale, its playoffs chances grew a bit dimmer following a 6-0 defeat against Pasadena.
With two games remaining — home against Burbank on Tuesday and at cross-town rival Hoover on Friday — the Nitros are tied for sixth place after dipping to 7-14-1, 4-8 in league. Pasadena improved to 17-6-1, 9-3 and is in third behind first-place Crescenta Valley and second-place Arcadia. Hoover (5-7 in league) posted a 7-4 road win against Burbank on Friday to move into fifth place with Burroughs (6-6), which defeated Arcadia Friday, in fourth.
Glendale first-year Coach Alan Eberhart said he hasn’t given up hope that the Nitros can still advance to the postseason.
“We are still playing for something with one week left,” said Eberhart, whose team yielded four first-inning runs Friday. “That’s a step forward for the team.
“We do need a miracle, but we have to worry about ourselves. I’m just happy that they are playing hard.”
Glendale, which suffered a 4-0 home defeat against Pasadena on April 15, stranded nine runners in Friday’s contest. The Nitros left the bases loaded in the third and couldn’t convert after getting their first two runners on base in the sixth and seventh.
Pasadena jumped on Glendale starting pitcher Brandon Keen in the first. Alex Baer had a run-scoring single to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. A bases-loaded walk to Daniel Richman capped the first-inning scoring.
“We just seem to always have that one bad inning and it happened again in the first,” Eberhart said. “It’s the same formula and we can’t hit.
“We seem to be a good six-inning team and we’ve had some tough losses. We’ve just got to hit the ball a lot better.”
Baer made it 5-0 with a sacrifice fly to deep right in the second. The Bulldogs concluded the scoring in the fourth on a fielder’s choice.
Glendale, blanked for the sixth time on the season and fourth in league, finished with three hits. Ryan Wong, Connor Rodriguez and Tyler Lousararian each had singles for the Nitros, who have lost three in a row.
Lousararian, a third baseman, said the Nitros will look to snap out of their funk.
“We have to go out there and win our last two games,” Lousararian said. “We have to do that and then see what happens.
“We can only control what we do. It’s the only way to try to get back into it.”
--
Follow Charles Rich on Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich .
