East to West, Woodland Hills Triumphs : East: Glendale commits five errors and strands 11 baserunners in a 2-1 loss.

Shane Cowsill is a pitcher. He knows baseball is a game of percentages.

Shane Cowsill bats cleanup. He knows baseball is a game of percentages.

He can quote you a few.

Cowsill, the pitcher, didn’t allow an earned run for Glendale in the first round of the District 20 playoffs on Tuesday. And Cowsill, the hitter, powdered the ball so hard that the left fielder from Woodland Hills East spent a portion of the game pinned to a chain-link fence.

Yet for all his trouble, Cowsill took the loss and went one for four at the plate as Glendale lost, 2-1, at Birmingham High.

“We didn’t get the breaks today,” Cowsill said. “We crushed the ball. I bet 75% of our outs were mashed.”

A good estimate, to be sure. Glendale (18-6) banged out eight hits off East right-hander Chris Brown, had five line-drive outs and stranded 11 baserunners.

Glendale, which will play the loser of today’s 1 p.m. game between Sun Valley and Newhall-Saugus in an elimination game this afternoon at 4, also committed five errors.

East will play Quartz Hill on Thursday at 4:15 p.m. at Pierce College.

With the score tied, 1-1, in the bottom of the eighth, East (20-4) parlayed a leadoff single by Carey Wilbur and three errors into the game-winning run.

After Wilbur drilled a base hit to center, Brown attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt. He failed on his first two attempts, then dropped one down the first-base line. Cowsill (5-2) retrieved the ball in plenty of time to force Wilbur at second, but the throw was low and he was charged with an error.

Jamie Zeichick followed with a fly ball to center, with Wilbur tagging and moving to third. Brown took second on the play when shortstop John Aguilar’s relay throw to third was high for an error.

Benji Belfield, who had already reached base twice on errors, lofted a fly to medium-deep right. But as Wilbur prepared to tag up at third, right fielder Brian Day dropped the ball and Wilbur scored easily for a 2-1 lead.

Brown (10-3) threw 140 pitches and didn’t retire the side in order until the seventh, by which time Glendale had stranded nine. He struck out three and walked four.

“He’s an interesting pitcher,” East Coach Matt Borzello said. “Sometimes, it seems like he doesn’t bear down until there are runners all over the place.”

Cowsill pitched 7 1/3 innings, leaving the game after Belfield’s fly was dropped by Day. He allowed six hits, struck out five and walked three. Even the victors admitted they were blessed by lady luck.

“That’s how it’s been for the last few games for us,” Belfield said. “We start a little slow, then in the last couple of innings, we wake up and win the game.”