By Rick Assad
Runs, hits and walks were evident and highlighted when the Burbank High baseball team visited host Glendale on Tuesday afternoon.
Both teams combined for 27 runs along with 23 hits and 14 walks and after seven innings, the Bulldogs edged the Nitros 16-11 in a Pacific League game slugfest.
The victory snapped a five-game losing streak for the Bulldogs who will host the Nitros on Friday.
Senior Julian Recinos swatted two triples and drove in three runs for Burbank and senior Tomas Angel collected three hits that included a triple and added three runs batted in.
Sophomore Mason Schwartz chimed in with three singles for the Bulldogs and tossed in an RBI.
Bob Hart is the longtime Burbank head coach and was for the most part pleased with the win.
“I thought we played well early and then let up,” he said. “We struggled on the hill, but we played pretty good defense.”
Runs were tallied by both teams in the first inning, the third, the fourth and the fifth inning.
Burbank opened the game with a three-run, three-hit first frame as senior Ryland Le Clair slapped a two-run single to right field as seven batters came to the plate.
Schwartz contributed an RBI single up the middle to make it 3-0.
In the third, the Bulldogs (2-9-1 and 2-4-1) tacked on six runs and delivered five hits with the big blow being a three-run triple by Recinos to right center.
“Julian Recinos had two triples and those stood out to me,” Hart said.
Glendale’s head coach is John Botelho and figured the contest would be high scoring.
“Burbank came to swing the bat today. Coach Hart always has his kids ready to go but they had the right approach at the plate today,” he said. “They hit the ball hard and good things happened for them.”
Burbank sophomore Luka Kuiper also had an RBI single to center in the third. Angel rifled a run-scoring single to right, and junior Ezekiel Canto added an RBI infield hit.
Senior Andru Machado had a leadoff single to center field and came around to score.
Burbank made it 10-4 with a run in the fourth as Kuiper singled up the middle and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
Recinos rippled a one-out triple to right in the fifth and crossed home plate on a wild pitch.
Ten came to bat for the Bulldogs in the sixth inning and five scored as sophomore Kris Haddad had a run-tallying grounder and Angel tossed in a two-run triple.
Burbank sophomore Geo Grair singled in the seventh to open the frame and also scored a run.
Maniel Manuelian had a single and a double and four RBIs for the Nitros and Allen Corwin added a two-run single.
Glendale’s Hunter Knowles tossed in a sacrifice fly in the first inning that cut the lead to 3-1.
The Nitros (2-14 and 0-7 in league) scored three runs in the third as Manuelian had an RBI single and Matthew Gallegos was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Corwin’s two-run single in the fourth trimmed Glendale’s lead to 10-6 and Knowles had a sacrifice fly in the fifth that shaved the lead to 11-7.
Glendale’s four-run, three-hit, seventh inning saw Knowles knock in a run with a single while Jacob Herrera had an RBI single and Manuelian contributed a two-run double.
“Even with Burbank swinging it well all day, my guys battled better than we have all year,” Botelho said. “Today felt like our hitters competed at their best level. We put a good fight up and wouldn’t quit even when we fell behind 9-1. To make it a game after that took a team effort.”
Botelho gave praise to both teams.
“We gave too many free bases against a team that will take advantage of any of them,” he stated. “Tough game on both sides with two teams that worked hard all the way through.”
Junior Casey Peters toured two and two-third innings for the Bulldogs and allowed three hits, struck out four with four walks and two hit batters.
Haddad went two and one-third innings and fanned four, yielded three hits with three walks and one hit batter and Recinos worked two frames and surrendered three hits with two strikeouts and two walks.
