Woodland Hills Bats Quiet Burbank, 13-5

Burbank burst its upset hopes like a balloon with its own needling in the opening game of the American Legion District 20 tournament Wednesday at Birmingham High.

Burbank entered the bottom of the sixth inning tied with Woodland Hills West, the top-seeded team, but about the time Burbank players began to pop off in the dugout, Jason Cohen and Ryan McGuire popped home runs and Woodland Hills won going away, 13-5.

“When you wake the giant with the ragging, you know what’s going to happen,” said a disgruntled Pat Eggleston, the Burbank coach. “My guys opened their mouths; Woodland Hills opened their mouths and what happens, their guys can stand behind it. When you can’t stand behind the ragging, you’d better shut up.”

Because the game included its share of extracurricular talking and posturing, the teams did not take part in the traditional postgame handshake.

“I think our kids were asleep for awhile,” Woodland Hills Coach Gary Gibson said. “One of the things that woke us up was that they started ragging us. It really got the kids’ ire up. I think that had something to do with the game.”

Trailing, 5-1, in the sixth, Burbank put together three consecutive hits to open the inning. Joey Hiortdahl slapped a two-run single to right to ignite a four-run rally that tied the score, 5-5.

Woodland Hills regained the lead with a run in the bottom of the sixth and then pulled out the heavy lumber. In the seventh, McGuire hit a double and scored on single by Del Marine. Cohen followed Marine by hitting a hanging curve over the left-field fence for a two-run home run.

Woodland Hills then loaded the bases in the eighth and McGuire delivered the first grand slam of his American Legion career. McGuire, a 6-foot-2 redhead, said he is sometimes mistaken for Mark McGwire’s younger brother. He showed why by muscling an opposite-field shot to left.

“I was trying to take a breaking ball the other way, and I hit it well,” said the left-handed-hitting McGuire. “He threw the breaking ball, and I sat on it.”

Burbank starter Steve Trainor (7-3) struck out five in his three-inning stint but gave up three runs and took the loss.

Pat Treend (5-1) pitched himself out of trouble in the sixth with a bases-loaded, two-out strikeout and held Burbank scoreless thereafter. He pitched a complete game to record the win.

“Pat had a couple bad innings, but he hung in there,” Gibson said. “He did a real good job today. I was just wondering when we were going to get the bats going. I knew it was only a matter of time.”

Catcher Bobby Kim had three of Woodland Hills’ 14 hits, and four other players each had two hits.

“It’s going to take a pretty good pitcher to beat us,” Gibson said.

The Encino-Crespi pitching staff will have the next opportunity to shut down the potent attack of Woodland Hills (20-3). The teams will play a second-round game today at 12:30 p.m. at Birmingham.

Burbank (13-10) will try to stay alive in the double-elimination tournament when it meets Lancaster today at 12:30 p.m. at Pierce College.