By Rick Assad
Three days ago, and on the road at Stengel Field, the Burbank High baseball team proved that it could not only play well against a good Pacific League team but also come away with a victory.
In that game, the Bulldogs scored four runs late and ran off with a 6-2 decision.
This time at home and hoping to make it two straight wins over Crescenta Valley, the dream vanquished fairly early as the squad suffered a 12-2 mercy rule loss on Friday afternoon.
Bob Hart is the longtime Burbank coach and is an incredible motivator who knows the game.
“We struggled on the hill, something we haven’t done much this year,” he explained. “Just one of those days.”
The Bulldogs mustered three singles against the Falcons, and they were hit by senior Robert Snyder, senior Taylor Pryor and junior Jeremy Lee.
“Tuesday, we came out strong, but yesterday we just didn’t play to our standard,” Lee admitted. “CV is a good team and made adjustments, but I think we can use that game as a lesson and move forward.”
Pryor’s base hit resulted in a run batted in and junior Tomas Angel added an RBI on a fielder’s choice.
The Falcons (19-5 and 10-2 in league) are solid up and down the lineup and have a deep and talented pitching staff.
Crescenta Valley rolled a seven, that is runs in the opening inning and it was smooth sailing from this point forward.
The Falcons extended their advantage to 8-0 with a run in the second inning.
In the bottom half of the second inning, the Bulldogs (8-9 and 6-6 in league) tallied a run as senior Colby Bette scored as Burbank trailed 8-1 heading to the third.
“It was just an unfortunate game all around. We struggled early on and couldn’t really make up what we gave up,” Bette said. “But we will bounce back next game for Burroughs.”
Not through scoring, Crescenta Valley added two runs in the top of the fourth inning and led 10-1.
Two more runs crossed the plate in the fifth frame for the Falcons who now held a 12-1 advantage.
Burbank scored another solo run in the bottom of the fifth as Snyder crossed the plate, but the Bulldogs trailed by 10 runs and the game was called.
Phil Torres has been the baseball coach at Crescenta Valley for nearly three decades and has guided the Falcons to a CIF Southern Section Division I championship in 1998 at Dodger Stadium.
All told, the Falcons have won the league title 20 times and have reached the semifinals three times and qualified for the quarterfinals four times.
For sure, it’s an impressive resume and program.
“We pitched way better than we did the other day, and we hit the ball really well,” Torres said of the game Friday.
Burbank will play its longtime city rival next week as the Bulldogs travel to Burroughs for a 6:30 p.m. game on Tuesday and then host the Bears on Friday, May 2 with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch.
