Burroughs baseball batters Glendale
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GLENDALE — As impressive as Niccolo Chuidian was on the mound, he was equally superb at the plate.
Looking to break out of a mini-slump, Chuidian came through right away to help the Burroughs High baseball team to another victory against Glendale.
Chuidian had two hits, drove in two runs and scored three runs Friday to propel visiting Burroughs to a 13-1 Pacific League win against Glendale. The junior right-hander also went five innings, striking out nine and yielding three hits.
“I was more impressed with my hitting and I wanted to get out of this slump I’ve been in the last several games,” Chuidian said. “I got a big hit in the first inning and it gave me some confidence when I took the mound with the lead.
“I’ve been changing my approach at the plate and I’m just trying to get my timing down. On the mound, I got ahead in the count a lot and I was hitting my spots to keep them off balance.”
Burroughs (8-6, 2-0 in league) swept the two-game season series with Glendale (3-7-1, 0-2) and improved to 21-3 against Glendale since joining the Pacific League in 2007. The Indians recorded a 4-3 win Tuesday at Burroughs.
On Friday, Burroughs scored four runs in the first to build a 4-0 lead. Andres Salazar gave the Indians a 1-0 lead with an run-scoring triple. Chuidian followed with a two-run triple to make it 3-0 and scored on a single by Matthew Diaz.
“That was big to get those runs early,” Burroughs coach Craig Sherwood said. “I’m glad we caught Glendale now because they might beat some teams the rest of the way.
“Niccolo came up big on the mound and at the plate. He’s got that ability to perform like that when he’s relaxed. He’s got that great attitude and work ethic that you want to see. He got that big triple in the first and he was relaxed the rest of the way.”
The Nitros cut the deficit to 4-1 in the first on a run-scoring single by Darian Jenks.
Chuidian struck out the side in the second and struck out the first two batters in the third.
Burroughs scored three runs in the fourth to take a 7-1 lead. A run-scoring by Brian Gracia made it 5-1 and a two-run single by Nathan Palafox extended the lead to 7-1.
A bases-loaded triple by Collin Johnson in the fifth gave the Indians a 10-1 lead and Johnson scored on an error to make it 11-1. Burroughs scored twice in the seventh on an error by the shortstop.
Burroughs finished with 13 hits, receiving two hits each from Garcia, Salazar, Palafox, Diaz and Johnson.
Glendale coach Kevin Chan said the Nitros couldn’t get on track after testing Burroughs on Tuesday.
“We played a very good game over there and we had a hiccup by stumbling out of the gate today,” Chan said. “It was a rough first inning.
“We have a lot of juniors and we’re somewhat youthful in other areas. We’ve exceeded expectations in some areas, but there’s always going to be a lot of room for improvement.”
Glendale finished with four hits. Daven Eidem and Jenks had two hits apiece.
The Indians and Nitros will participate in league games Tuesday. Burroughs will be at home against Pasadena and Glendale will travel to Burbank.
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
