Falcons struggle to find offense

Both the Burroughs and Crescenta Valley high baseball teams entered Tuesday night’s Pacific League bout swinging hot bats, with each club averaging over 13 runs in its previous five contests.

At the end of the night, only the Indians were able to keep that trend going.

Burroughs junior right-hander Kyle Hart tossed a one-hit, complete-game gem to silence the lethal Falcons attack and the Indians pounded out 10 hits, including two towering home runs, to grab a pivotal 6-2 victory over the Falcons at Stengel Field.

The Indians were able to exact a bit of revenge after Crescenta Valley, which had its five-game winning streak snapped, routed Burroughs 16-3 at its home field on March 21.

“We’ve played the style of ball we’ve needed to at this place, but gotten pounded at home,” Burroughs Coach Tom Crowther said. “So go figure. ... We don’t expect to be able to hang a ton of runs on them, but we expect our guys to execute and go out and play hard and tonight they did that.”

The final result jumbles the top of the Pacific League standings with Crescenta Valley (14-5, 9-2 in league) dropping into a tie for first place with Arcadia and Burroughs (12-10, 8-3) surging to just a game behind in third place.

In the first inning, Crescenta Valley snatched an early 1-0 advantage after Matt Ashby, who was hit by a pitch, came around to score when Joe Sedano reached on an error.

Falcons ace Travis Feldman, who fanned eight in six innings, cruised through his first two innings of work and quickly retired the first two batters in the third.

But that’s when the tide turned.

Hart singled and Sean Kahikina followed with a mammoth home run to right, putting the Indians up 2-1.

“He just made a couple pitches where they hit the ball real well,” Falcons Coach Phil Torres said of Feldman. “Those guys are good hitters. That team can hit.”

Raymond Palafox tacked on a solo blast in the fourth inning to inflate the Burroughs lead to 3-1 and the Indians never looked back.

“They made the most of their opportunities,” Torres said. “We had some chances to end those big innings and we just couldn’t do it.”

The Falcons were able to put runners on in the third, fourth and fifth inning, but Hart, who walked five and hit a batter in his seven innings, was able to escape each jam.

“He’s a gamer,” Crowther said. “The kid’s a helluva competitor. He wants the ball in big games.”

After Burroughs went up 4-1 in the top of the sixth, Crescenta Valley cut the lead to 4-2 in the bottom half of the frame when Sean Carroll scored on a Nathan Honda groundout. But that was as close as the Falcons would get, as Burroughs added two insurance runs in the seventh on RBI singles from Palafox and John Schwer.

Crescenta Valley’s only hit of the night came on a Feldman double in the fourth inning.