By Rick Assad
Burbank High’s baseball team managed five hits off three Glendale pitchers and Michael Bui collected three hits and drove in three of the six runs batted in on Tuesday afternoon in a Pacific League game.
The host Bulldogs scored in four of the five innings and earned a 10-0 mercy rule victory that was halted in the bottom of the frame with one out after adding two runs.
The senior center fielder had a two-run single in the first inning, added a base hit in the third frame and finished with a single to right center in the fourth.
Junior Ryland Le Clair earned the win on the mound after completing four scoreless innings, striking out four, walking three and allowing three hits.
Senior left-handed pitcher Orion Bell entered in the fifth and surrendered one hit and fanned one for the Bulldogs (6-5 and 4-2 in league).
Bob Hart is the longtime Burbank coach and was beaming after the effort.
“I like the fact that we maintained our level of play and capitalized on those mistakes,” he noted of the five Nitro miscues. “I’m always proud of my guys for the way they conduct themselves in victory or defeat.”
Burbank came out and put two runs on the board in the first inning and sent six batters to the plate and saw three hitters reach base off senior Joseph Tapia, who went three innings, yielding two hits, fanning three, walking three and hitting one batter.
Senior Robert Snyder walked to open the frame and after junior Jeremy Lee struck out swinging, senior Adrian Vasquez also walked. Both runners crossed the plate on Bui’s hard-hit to left field.
Tapia worked a perfect second inning but then ran into trouble in the third when he faced eight batters as Burbank pulled ahead 5-0.
Despite only allowing Bui’s scoring-single to center field, Tapia’s defense committed three errors behind him in the inning.
Tapia did hit Lee with a pitched ball and walked Le Clair. Snyder was safe on an error and junior Tomas Angel also reached base on a miscue.
John Botelho is Glendale’s first-year coach and is trying to give his team a sense of pride, but said fielding miscues have been an issue.
“Errors have been a problem for us a lot this year and were again today. We make life really tough on our pitchers if we turn routine outs into base runners,” he said. “That happened a couple times today. Burbank also took advantage of every mistake we made.”
The Bulldogs added three more runs in the fourth inning as eight batters waltzed to home plate.
The biggest hit came off the bat of junior Jeremy Lee, who swatted a two-run double to left field as junior Andru Machado, who walked and Snyder, who also drew a base on balls, both scored.
Lee also eventually crossed home plate to make it 8-0 in favor of the Bulldogs.
Burbank’s fifth frame witnessed seven hitters walking to the dish and three batters walked including junior Brandon Hernandez with the bases filled to make it a 10-run differential. Snyder also had an infield single in the frame and scored a run.
Colby Bette is a pitcher and also plays catcher and shortstop, which he did versus the Nitros.
“It’s nice to have a quick game you don’t have to stress about, you know,” said the senior. “What I saw and liked was Ryland’s pitching. He is going to be solid next year. For hitting, I liked how aggressive we were, attacking the ball and getting out to an early lead.”
The Nitros (3-14 and 0-7 in league) amassed four hits but also hit into a double play in the the second and fourth innings, which spoiled any chances of scoring.
“We had a few innings with chances to get to their pitcher, but credit to Burbank for getting tougher in those situations,” Botelho said. “Their pitchers refused to give in and their defense made some great plays. The hardest ball we hit against them went for a double play. Can’t do much but tip your cap to Coach Hart and his guys. They made a lot more plays than we did today.”
