Burroughs Wins After a Heart to Hart Talk

The day before Wes Hutchison of Burroughs High took the mound against Hart on Friday, Coach Jose Valle took the senior right-hander for a quick spin in a golf cart and gave him a pep talk about concentration and focus.

It must have been quite a speech. Hutchison held Hart hitless for the first 5 2/3 innings and hung tough when he was in trouble to register a 3-0 victory at Burroughs that created some much-needed breathing room in the Foothill League standings.

Burroughs (13-6, 8-1 in league play), seeking its first league title since 1957, leads Hart (12-8, 6-3) and Saugus by two games with six to play.

Burroughs won the season series, two games to one, after losing to Hart, 4-0, on Tuesday.

“We’ve got our lead back,” Valle said. “I’ll take two of three from Hart in any year.”

Hutchison (6-1) finished with a three-hitter, striking out six and walking one, while outpitching Oklahoma-bound Bobby Graves.

Graves (4-2), a senior left-hander, was dominant at times, finishing with a six-hitter and 12 strikeouts, but made one critical early mistake.

In the bottom of the first inning, leadoff hitter Juan Zavala hit Graves’ first pitch over the left-field fence for his first home run of the season.

“I thought I’d hit another pop fly,” Zavala said. “I didn’t realize until I got to third that I had hit it out.”

The home run ignited Burroughs, which needed a spark after being shut out by Hart three days ago and facing its best pitcher.

Burroughs added two runs in the fourth inning on a run-scoring double by Anthony Fabrizio and an RBI grounder by Gil Hernandez.

“Let’s face it, there’s a little bit of a mystique in our league about Bobby Graves,” Valle said. “That home run was huge for us.”

Just as important was Hutchison’s pitching. He didn’t allow a hit until Bob Potruch singled past first baseman Fabrizio with two out in the sixth inning.

With Potruch on first base and Kevin Bell on third, Hutchison struck out Cody Joyce to end the threat.

Hutchison appeared to tire slightly in the seventh, giving up singles to Matt McAfee and pinch-hitter Louis Zuccari.

With one out and runners on second and third, Burroughs had Fabrizio ready to close if needed. But Hutchison got J.T. Stotts to ground out and Chris Wright to fly out to center field.

“I wanted to finish it,” Hutchison said. “Besides, Anthony said he would have had a heart attack if he had to finish.”