By Rick Assad
After all the dust settled Tuesday evening at the Burbank High baseball field, Burroughs walked away with an 11-1 rout on Senior Night.
The Bears now hold a one-game advantage over Crescenta Valley and Arcadia in the race for the top spot in the Pacific League.
There is only one game left in league play and on Friday, Burroughs hosts Burbank with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch.
On that same night, the Falcons will host the Apaches. On Tuesday, Arcadia (16-9 and 11-2 in league) defeated Crescenta Valley (17-4 and 11-2 in league) 14-5.
It’s possible there could to a two-way tie for first if Burroughs (19-4 and 12-1 in league) loses but that’s days away.
The Bears scored runs in every inning except the second while Burbank (3-14-1 and 3-9-1 in league) managed one run on a solo homer to right center field from senior Tomas Angel in the fourth inning.
Senior Devin Whittekiend went five frames, struck out 10, walked one and hit one batter.
Whittekiend didn’t allow a hit until two outs in the fourth inning and issued only one walk to that point.
Burroughs collected nine hits and senior Logan Drossin finished with two doubles and two runs batted in while junior Slater Mersola added two singles and two RBIs and junior Jake Rauenswinder chipped in with two singles.
Elliott Ross played a flawless shortstop and singled to right center in the first inning for the Bears and was succinct in his recap of the game.
“We dominated. Hitting, pitching and defense,” he said of the lopsided victory.
The Bears trotted eight batters to the plate in the first inning against junior Casey Peters and six reached base.
Peters yielded three hits with two strikeouts and issued four walks and also hit one batter across two and one-third innings.
The runs were scored when senior Thomas Martin was hit with a pitch and the bases loaded and Mersola pushed a single to right field for two runs and a 3-0 lead.
The barrage continued two innings later as the Bears sent seven batters to the plate as it became 5-0 and the only hit was an infield single from Mersola.
With the bases jammed, junior Kayson Montgomery, who singled in the fifth and scored, walked to score a run and senior Zack Guevara added a sacrifice fly to left field.
Burroughs’ lead swelled to 6-1 after a tally in the fourth inning as the speedy Drossin doubled to left field to lead off the frame and came around to score.
The Bears tacked on five runs across the final three innings as it became 9-1 in the fifth as Drossin chimed in with a two-base hit to left center for two runs and senior Devin Whittekiend added a scoring grounder.
Martin’s double in the sixth plated Rausenswinder who led off with a single up the middle.
The Bears scored a solo run in the seventh inning without the benefit of a hit although Rauenswinder did single to center field.
Senior Jack Guest added two innings on the mound for the Bears and fanned two and walked one and nicked one batter.
Sophomore Luka Kuiper pitched four innings for the Bulldogs, who committed seven errors, and surrendered six hits with two strikeouts and one walk and three hit batters while senior Julian Recinos went two-thirds of an inning.
Late in the game on a controversial play at home plate, the call by the umpire didn’t go Burbank’s way and, in the process, longtime head coach Bob Hart was ejected from the game and will not be in the dugout for Friday’s league finale.
