By Rick Assad
It took a little while before the Burbank High baseball team broke through with five hits and three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
That’s the good news but the team was behind by a dozen runs at that juncture to visiting Muir in a Pacific League game and eventually lost 13-3 on Tuesday afternoon.
The Bulldogs fell behind 5-0 after one inning, trailed 8-0 after two frames and 11-0 through three innings.
Muir’s lead stood at 12-0 before eight batters trotted to the plate and six were safe on five hits and one walk.
With one out, sophomore Luka Kuiper had an infield base hit while sophomore Mason Schwartz singled to left field.
Junior Anthony Sanchez also reached on an infield hit and senior Julian Recinos delivered an infield hit for a run batted in.
Senior Tomas Angel laced a single to left field that scored a run and senior Ryland Le Clair drew a bases-loaded walk that tallied a run.
Bob Hart is the longtime Burbank head coach and is somewhat baffled by his team.
“We can’t seem to figure it out and I can’t seem to either,” he said of the team’s problem. “Seventeen total team bases given away. To say it’s frustrating would be an understatement.”
Burbank’s starter on the mound was senior Sebastian Aguirre who went one-plus inning and surrendered three hits and hit four batters.
Junior Casey Peters tossed two frames and allowed two hits with three walks, two hit batters and one strikeout for the Bulldogs (1-8-1 and 1-3-1 in league).
Junior Carter Williamson went three and two-third innings and was tagged for two hits with six strikeouts and two walks and two hit batters.
Recinos toured two-thirds of a frame and was the final Burbank pitcher of the day.
Muir sprinted to a 5-0 cushion in the opening frame as eight hitters came to the plate.
Will Rodruguez clubbed a one-out, three-run double down the left-field line.
Three batters later, Jaeger Martinez bashed a two-out, two-run single to center field.
In quick fashion, the Mustangs (4-7 and 1-7 in league) eased into an 8-0 advantage in the second inning.
When Gianluca Cano ripped a two-run single to left field to make it 7-0 and after Ezekiel Rodriguez lifted a sacrifice fly to center, the lead swelled to 8-0.
The scoring rampage wasn’t done as the Mustangs made it 11-0 after nine batters came to the dish in the third inning.
Eduardo Sosa had the only hit of the frame, a leadoff single to right field, but Cano and Ezekiel Rodriguez were both hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for runs. Will Rodriguez tossed in a walk with the bases loaded for a tally.
In the top of the fifth, Muir tacked on a run with a single to right field and then added a solo run in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly from Ezekiel Rodriguez.
Zack Avrach was Muir’s starting pitcher and he went five innings and struck out six while walking two, hitting a batter and yielding five hits.
Justin Figueroa fanned two and walked one across two frames for the Mustangs.
