Burbank baseball uses big inning to down Arcadia

The Burbank High baseball team showed it can be explosive on offense in a Pacific League game Friday night against visiting Arcadia.

In a battle of two of three teams atop the league standings, the Bulldogs broke open the contest with 10 runs in the fourth inning to record a 13-3 victory against the Apaches.

The game was called in the fifth inning because of the 10-run mercy rule.

The win keeps Burbank (15-8, 10-2 in league) in first place with Crescenta Valley (18-7, 10-2), which defeated Pasadena on Friday, 7-3.

In was an important victory for the Bulldogs, who are trying to capture their first league championship since 1991, when they were members of the Foothill League.

In the big fourth inning, Burbank had three home runs, including a grand slam by Angel Villagran that scored John White, Dylan Mersola and Harrison Hernandez. Angel Roman hit a solo shot in the inning and Ian McKinnon had a two-run blast.

“It was one of those nights that everything came together offensively,” Burbank Coach Bob Hart said. “I’ve been waiting for that to happen and I knew they were capable of doing that.”

The Bulldogs began the game by pushing across one run in the first inning. Ricky Perez started with a single to center field. He then advanced to second on a sacrifice by White. Perez was able to score on an RBI double to left field by Mersola.

The Burbank lead was short-lived, however, as Arcadia scored two runs in the second to take a 2-1 lead.

But Burbank responded with two runs in its half of the second with a run-scoring single by CC Okimoto and an RBI groundout by McKinnon.

The Apaches kept coming in the fourth inning, tallying a run to knot the score at 3.

Mersola and KcKinnon had two RBI each for Burbank, which hammered out 12 hits.

On the hill, Villagran got the win, allowing three runs, striking out one, walking one and giving up eight hits.