CV makes lead, win evaporate for Bulldogs

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — After putting up five runs in the second inning, the Burbank High baseball team seemingly fizzled away as host Crescenta Valley continued producing at a consistent rate.

Unfazed by the deficit, the Falcons steadily chipped away and caught the Bulldogs in the fourth, pulling away with the go-ahead run in the sixth Friday evening en route to an 8-5 win at Stengel Field and an undefeated Pacific League record.

Despite giving up five runs and five hits in the second in, senior left-handed pitcher Elliot Surrey (3-0) remained poised and did not allow a hit the rest of the way, with only one Burbank batter reaching first base after that on an error. He finished with six strikeouts.

“I think Elliot battled back. It would have been really easy to say, ‘Crap, everything’s bad, falling out around me.’ But he battled,” Crescenta Valley Coach Phil Torres said. “We took good at-bats. Everyone hung in, stuck together and did a good job.”

The Falcons (5-3, 3-0 in league) scored in five of six innings, delivering the final blow in the sixth.

With runners on first and third base, Crescenta Valley’s Cole Currie stepped up to the plate. Before Currie received a pitch, Johnathan Prehn stole second, taking away Burbank pitcher Andrew Hernandez’ attention as Bryce Foster stole home for a 6-5 Falcons lead.

Hernandez (three strikeouts, eight hits allowed) was relieved moments later after plunking Currie with a pitch.

Then, Ted Boeke welcomed Burbank’s relief pitcher with a two-run RBI double to left-center that made it 8-5.

A Burbank (3-5, 1-1) lead that was once 5-1 in the top of the second had evaporated heading into the seventh and final inning.

“You got to feed off of that,” Bulldogs Coach Bob Hart said of his team’s offensive splurge. “I thought we settled after a while, after we got the five runs. As I explained to the guys, ‘You can’t hold on to a win. You have to continue to battle and score a run an inning.’ I felt like we pulled the foot off the pedal a little.”

Crescenta Valley, on the other hand, continued pushing. A 5-1 deficit was reduced to three after Michael Russo scored in the bottom of the second.

Then in the third, Russo’s ground ball down the left-field line drove in Troy Mulcahey (two for four, two runs) and Currie (two runs).

Without any offensive production from Burbank, the Falcons tied it at 5 in the fourth on a wild pitch that scored Boeke.

“Our offense today really clicked,” Surrey said. “Everyone did a great job of battling at each at-bat, scraping each inning, making sure we win each inning if we put up a zero on defense, put up a one on offense. So everyone was a key piece to that win right there.”