Burroughs’ bats silenced
Jim Riggio
The Burroughs High baseball team is proud of the fact it has beaten
Hart twice this summer.
But a chance for a three-game sweep wasn’t in the cards Thursday
night for Coach Tom Crowther’s team.
Paced by a two-hit complete-game shutout from pitcher Tyler Fick,
Hart -- Burroughs’ Foothill League rival -- earned a 7-0 victory in
the quarterfinals of the Valley Invitational Baseball League
playoffs.
The loss eliminated Burroughs from the playoffs.
“Mental fatigue sets in and we missed a lot of things that don’t
show up in the scorecard,” Crowther said.
Burroughs finished the summer at 21-12, something Crowther is very
pleased with.
“Even though we had a good summer, we need to get better
offensively,” Crowther said. “We have to get more aggressive with
the bats. We’re going to need good pitching, great defense and timely
batting. We do those three things and we’ll be a playoff team.”
Burroughs struggled at the plate, as Josh Campbell’s second-inning
single and Devin Williams’ sixth-inning double were its lone hits.
Crowther’s team hit the ball out of the infield just two more
times.
For Fick, he said keeping the Burroughs batters guessing was his
big goal.
“I was staying down in the zone, getting guys to ground the ball
out,” Fick said. “I was getting ahead of guys in the count.”
Hart scored twice in the first inning off Burroughs starter Ian
Disiere. Hart scored at least one run in every inning except the
fifth.
Ryan Matheson relieved Disiere in the fourth inning, but Hart
continued to hit the ball well.
Hart finished with 13 hits, six coming off Matheson.
“Hart’s good at getting a lead,” Crowther said. “You give them a
window and they find a way to add on to it.”
Burroughs had a chance to jump back into the game in the bottom of
the first inning, the only inning Fick struggled. Burroughs left the
bases loaded, as Josh Dultz was called out on a close play at first
base after Hart third baseman Nate Maddox hesitated making the throw.
“The first inning was ridiculous,” said Fick, who walked two and
hit one batter. “The sun was right in my face and I lost sight of my
catcher. The next inning, I didn’t have a problem with it.”
Hart Coach Jim Ozella was impressed with his junior left-hander
and said Fick has pitched better this summer.
“We put pressure on [Burroughs], and Tyler has done it like we’ve
expected him to,” Ozella said. “He’s one of our returning guys and
he keeps getting better and better.”
The only other inning Burroughs threatened to score in was the
sixth. Williams had a one-out double and went to third when Brent
Fekety reached base on a throwing error.
But Fick battled back to strike out Josh Dultz to get out of the
inning and preserve the two-hit shutout.
Burroughs earned a spot in the quarterfinals with a 4-3 win
against Hart on Monday.
The Indians will now look toward next season and have hopes to not
only do well in league, but also making it back to the CIF Southern
Section playoffs.