Defensive miscues prove to be costly for Rebs
NORTHEAST GLENDALE — An old problem from past seasons resurfaced Tuesday afternoon for the Flintridge Prep baseball team — errors.
Though the Rebels have improved vastly on defense this season, with the playoffs set to begin next week for the Rebels, now isn’t the time for defensive lapses to occur, but that’s exactly what happened.
“We didn’t help ourselves on the defensive end,” said Flintridge Prep Coach Buzz Cook, whose team committed seven errors in a 9-3 Prep League loss to rival Pasadena Poly at the Glendale Sports Complex. “It’s an ugly defeat, and now we’ve got something to work on [between now and the playoffs].
“We talked about how you are going to have days like this where you are going to make mistakes. That’s part of the game.”
Flintridge Prep (12-8, 6-6 in league) already wrapped up third place in league behind Pasadena Poly and Rio Hondo Prep. Pasadena Poly (13-7-1, 9-2) had long ago captured its 22nd league championship in the past 24 seasons.
Pasadena Poly took advantage of Flintridge Prep’s shabby defense. It scored five runs with help from the Rebels, who lost two of the three season meetings against the Panthers this season.
The Panthers wasted little time getting started, as Charlie Baxter scored from second base on a fielding error by the second baseman to make it 1-0 in the top of the first inning.
A run-scoring single by third baseman Aaron Fried knotted the game at 1 in the bottom of the first, but the Panthers took a 2-1 lead on a strange play in the second. With runners on first and second and two outs, Flintridge Prep starting pitcher Ben Slyngstad (5-3) tried to pick off Matt Lochner at second. Slyngstad’s throw went into center field and was bobbled by the center fielder, allowing Lochner to come around to score.
Pasadena Poly, which split the two games against Flintridge Prep at the Glendale Sports Complex, broke the contest open with five runs in the third to make it 7-1. The Rebels had three errors, which led to three runs.
“We give up a few runs and you can tell from their body language that they are not there,” said Cook, whose team had nine hits. “We get down a few runs and we stopped competing.”
Royce Park had a run-scoring double in the third to cut the deficit to 7-3. The Rebels got an RBI single from Connor McCann in the seventh.
