Belasco’s Hit Gives Birmingham 4-4 Tie

Mike Belasco’s pinch-hit, two-run single in the bottom of the seventh inning earned host Birmingham High a 4-4 tie with San Fernando in a season-opening City Section baseball game Wednesday. The game, part of a six-team, round-robin nonleague tournament, was called because of darkness and is officially a tie.

“Unless it means a trophy,” Birmingham Coach Wayne Sink said with a chuckle.

Belasco’s single capped a two-out rally that erased a 4-2 deficit and provided redemption for Birmingham, which left runners in scoring position four times.

“A timely hit here or there with guys in scoring position would have made a difference,” Sink said.

It did in the seventh. Bobby Bookatz was hit by a pitch with two out and went to third on Danny Larson’s double. Belasco pinch-hit for Noah Kirshbaum and blooped an 0-1 fastball into shallow left field.

San Fernando took a 4-2 lead on Johnny Najar’s towering two-run home run that barely fell inside the left-field foul pole with one out in the seventh. Najar led off the second with a home run that gave San Fernando a 1-0 lead, and four consecutive walks in the inning extended the Tigers’ lead to 2-0.

Birmingham answered with Ruben Flores’ bases-loaded walk in the second, and tied the score, 2-2, on Mike Malkin’s run-scoring triple in the sixth. Malkin was three for four.