Certainly, the one thing the Burbank High baseball team didn’t want to do was to open the Pacific League season with a split against Glendale High.
Burbank avoided that from happening as pitcher Josh Di Pietro allowed just one hit through six innings in a 6-0 win over the visiting Nitros Friday night.
“League wins are tough to come by so any time you can come out and play clean baseball and not give up free bases and do the job, it is always good.” Burbank Coach Bob Hart said. “Di Pietro pitched really well. Our frontline pitching has been outstanding. It was nice to see (David) McBride come in and slam the door a little bit.”
After a first-inning double by Glendale’s Matthew Vega, the Nitros had just six base runners the rest of the way. Glendale had three walks, one batter reached after being hit by pitch. The other base runners reached on an error and fielder’s choice, respectively. “It was just a great team win. Everyone did their part, fielding, hitting, and Jared (Cantu) with the home run and behind the plate. I felt it was just a great community win. David coming in to close it afterward (is) true teammates coming in to help each other,” Di Pietro said.
Burbank (4-3) scored four times in the third inning. Cantu hit a one-out home run to right-center field for the first run of the game. The Bulldogs had four consecutive batters reach base against Glendale starter Javier Solis.
Jimmy Cafferty drew a walk and was followed by Daniel Neria, who singled to left field. Danny Betancourt followed Neria in the order with another single to left field.
They scored later in the inning when Ben Castillo reached on an error.
The Bulldogs added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Neria drew a two-out walk. Joe Maslyk came in as a pinch-runner. He would later score on a throwing error.
Jose Avellaneda singled later in the inning to drive home Betancourt.
With a comfortable lead, McBride closed things out in the seventh inning by retiring the three Nitro batters he faced.
Burbank will face Pasadena High twice next week when it returns to Pacific League action on Tuesday
