Crescenta Valley baseball cruises to third straight win

GLENDALE — After just scraping by Damien in extra innings Saturday, the Crescenta Valley High baseball team had a night off from the drama and intensity with a 13-1 mercy victory over Rosemead in five innings Tuesday in a Dick’s Sports Goods Tournament game.

The Falcons (3-1) showed patience and took a lot of pitches at the plate, while working quickly on the mound. Crescenta Valley threw an average of 15.4 pitches an inning (77 total pitches in five innings) while seeing an average of 27 a frame (108 in four innings).

Offensively, CV racked up seven hits and six walks and also benefited from a number of Panthers (0-3) miscues. Rosemead committed three errors in the game and had five wild pitches and three passed balls with many leading to Falcons runs.

The overall performance led to a quick game with more than 15 Falcons getting time on Stengel Field.

“It’s nice to get a game like this every once in awhile where everybody can play, because we had a really tight game on Saturday,” CV Coach Phil Torres said of his team’s 6-5 victory over Damien in eight innings. “Everybody comes to practice and works hard and there’s games where we can’t get everybody in, so tonight’s a reward for some kids.”

Falcons starting pitcher Nolan Rea set the tone from the start. The senior left-hander allowed three base runners (two hits, hit by pitch) and struck out five through three innings. He also worked quickly, throwing a total of 41 pitches Tuesday.

“I felt really confident, definitely with [pitching] coach [Darrin] Beer,” Rea said. “He was calling a lot of good pitches. He was keeping the pace of the game and really helping me out. He really calls the game; you’ve got to give the credit to him, he does a great job.”

Crescenta Valley jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning after a quick start from Rea, who got out of the opening frame on just 13 pitches.

CV’s No. 2 hitter Bryan Wang opened the scoring when he lined a 3-2 pitch up the middle of the infield, scoring Ted Boeke, who got on base when he was hit by a pitch and stole one of his two bases to move into scoring position.

Rea helped his cause with a sacrifice fly to center and Austin Brines (two for two, two runs batted in) gave the Falcons a 3-0 lead with a double to left-center field. It was a catchable ball, but dropped after the Panthers fielders collided.

Brett Klein led off the second inning with a line drive that was dropped in right field and rolled all the way to the fence. A wild pitch gave Crescenta Valley a 4-0 lead heading into the third.

A pair of RBI singles from Brines and Adrian Damla (three for three, two RBI) and a sacrifice fly from Klein staked the Falcons to a 7-0 lead in the bottom of the third.

“The whole team really played well and basically just hit,” said Damla, adding a “good eye” was key in the game. “Coach has been helping us out all year and it paid off today.”