Birkins Gets Well Soon With Shutout Over Poly

Chicken noodle soup, tomato soup, vegetable soup, Nyquil--pitcher Kurt Birkins of El Camino Real High was drinking anything to cure himself after becoming ill last week.

Maybe he should be known as Dr. Birkins after his home remedies did the trick. A revitalized Birkins struck out eight, walked one and allowed five hits as defending City Section 4-A Division champion El Camino Real opened the playoffs with a 12-0 rout of Poly on Friday in a game stopped after five innings because of the 10-run rule.

One week ago, Birkins (10-2) walked four, hit two batters and didn’t make it out of the second inning in a loss to Chatsworth.

“I woke up that morning with a sore throat,” he said. “After the game, I felt sicker.”

A week of rest and drinking lots of fluids worked wonders.

“It was a complete turnaround,” Birkins said. “Going against Chatsworth, any team seems easier.”

Birkins, a senior left-hander, might be the region’s best unsigned college prospect. His curveball was breaking sharply, and when he’s throwing strikes, there aren’t many pitchers better in the City.

Poly (16-7-2) didn’t help matters by committing four errors and falling behind, 12-0, after three innings.

Birkins only faced two difficult situations. In the second inning, Poly had runners on second and third with none out. Birkins struck out Mark Castardo looking on a 3-2 count, struck out Angel Espindola on a curveball and struck out Eder Tapia on a fastball.

In the fifth, Poly loaded the bases with one out. Again, Birkins escaped with a game-ending double play.

“Sometimes I’m wild, but if that happens, I just have to keep throwing strikes,” Birkins said.

It was a disappointing performance by Poly, the third-place finisher in the East Valley League. The Parrots had made only 26 errors in 24 games coming in. They didn’t play well Friday--El Camino Real scored four runs in the first inning aided by three errors.

For El Camino Real, outfielder Matt Schwartz had two doubles and a single, making him five for seven in his last two games. Birkins added two hits and two runs batted in. And sophomore third baseman Conor Jackson contributed a run-scoring single in the first and a three-run double in the third.

No player from El Camino Real has faced more pressure than Jackson. With only a year’s experience on the junior varsity team, Jackson became the cleanup hitter in the first game. He has responded with a team-leading 31 RBIs and .380 average.

“My main thing was to play baseball and not worry what other people think,” Jackson said.

El Camino Real (16-9) is expected to come back with Birkins on Tuesday against host Carson in the quarterfinals.