Crescenta Valley wins 5th straight
NORTHEAST GLENDALE — Arguably the hottest squad in the Pacific League, the Crescenta Valley High baseball team’s torrid streak continued at the expense of Glendale on Tuesday evening.
The Falcons could do no wrong and the Nitros countered with little going right, as Crescenta Valley cruised to an 11-1 win that ended in the bottom of the fifth when Andrew Reed doubled in RJ Morris to elicit the mercy rule.
“We’ve really been working hard in practices, making sure we get the job done in games,” said Falcons freshman Elliott Surrey, who scored a pair of runs and tossed three scoreless innings on the mound in helping Crescenta Valley win its fifth straight game. “It was a little shaky in the beginning, but it’s gotten a lot better.”
The Falcons (16-8, 9-4 in league) lost three straight league games earlier this season, but have since rebounded, defeating all three teams that defeated them in that span, and, in the process, have moved into a tie for third with Burbank. Due to first-place Arcadia’s victory over Pasadena Tuesday, the Falcons were mathematically eliminated from winning league, snapping the program’s title streak at seven, but Pasadena’s loss clinched a postseason bid for Crescenta Valley.
“We just came together as a team,” said freshman outfielder Troy Mulcahey, whose two-run double in the second raised Crescenta Valley’s lead to 7-0. “We told ourselves we’re gonna make the playoffs.”
On Tuesday, Crescenta Valley took run production to another level as it scored 11 runs on just seven hits, taking a 9-0 lead after two innings on only three hits.
“We just needed to sit back and wait,” Mulcahey said.
Glendale (5-15, 2-11 in league) committed four errors on top of a slew of wild pitches and passed balls, while its pitchers issued seven walks.
Surrey, who singled to reach base, scored on a wild pitch for a 1-0 lead in the first before Troy Prasertsit scored on a steal of home and Joe Sedano scored on a Matt Ashby single.
The Falcons then exploded for a seven-run second, loading the bases without a hit before Surrey was hit by a pitch, forcing in Brandt Bowers, who scored twice. A Sedano walk pushed Zack Torres home for a 5-0 lead, before Mulcahey’s two-bagger drove in Nate Rousey and Surrey. Run-scoring groundouts by Prasertsit and Ashby followed, as Falcons Coach Phil Torres began to empty his bench.
Bowers scored again in the third on a Kyle Pomeroy double to make it 10-0.
Meanwhile, Surrey was cruising. He tossed three innings in his start, allowing just one run, striking out four and allowing no walks.
“My arm felt pretty good today,” said Surrey, who was relieved by John Salas, who got the win. “I was trying to work down, hit my spots.”
Nitro John Evans walked in the fourth and later scored after a Bennett Koss double and an RBI groundout by Kevin Perez to elongate the game.
The Falcons close out their season Friday night against archrival Arcadia, while Glendale faces Hoover.