By Rick Assad
On a big stage and with the stands filled to capacity, junior Devin Whittekiend delivered a masterclass for the Burroughs High baseball team against visiting city rival Burbank.
The tall right-handed pitcher tossed a complete-game shutout on Tuesday night while allowing three singles with 13 strikeouts, two walks and one hit batter as the Bears captured the Pacific League game 4-0.
Burroughs will visit Burbank on Friday with a 6:30 p.m. start and cap off its regular season.
Whittekiend fanned three batters in the second and seventh frames and whiffed two hitters in the first and third innings and was overpowering.
Burroughs coach Matt Magallon said he was duly impressed by the outing.
“I went out to talk to him and he said he wanted to finish it,” he explained. “He had thrown a great game, and I thought he should finish it.”
Whittekiend throws hard and it can be taxing.
“I didn’t think he was tired,” Magallon said of his pitcher who also plays first base. “I’m sure he was but the last pitch registered the same as his second pitch of the game, so he obviously felt good.” 
Burbank senior hurler Colby Bette also pitched well but didn’t have as much offensive backing.
Bette toured six innings while surrendering seven hits and registered six strikeouts with two walks.
“We struggled a little at the plate that game. Some hits didn’t go our way,” Bette noted. “But we will be back on Friday ready to go.”
Bob Hart is Burbank’s coach and he saw a change later in the game by his hitters.
“I saw a lot of non-competitive at-bats until the later innings,” he pointed out. “We stranded numerous runners. That’s always a bad recipe.”
The Bulldogs had at least one runner on base in the second, third, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
Hart said Bette gave everything he had on the mound.
“Colby pitched well as he’s done all year. He loves big games, and he really shows up,” he said. “Hopefully, we can come back Friday and take care of business.”
Junior Zack Guevara chipped in with two hits and a run batted and sophomore Elliot Ross added two singles to pace the Bears’ offense.
Senior Orion Bell, senior Taylor Pryor and junior Jeremy Lee all contributed hits for the Bulldogs (8-10 and 6-7 in league).
“Their pitcher was solid, props to him. Collectively as a team, I think we needed to calm down and hit like we have in the past,” Lee offered. “The speed was a bit of a surprise, but if we played our game, we would have performed better.”
Burroughs took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning as Bette faced five batters including a leadoff single to right center by Ross who was later forced out by Guevara.
Guevara then stole second base and scored on a two-out single to left field by Whittekiend.
Neither team scored over the next two innings, but the Bears (19-7 and 9-4 in league) pulled ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth.
Junior Jack Smith, who was behind home plate all night, led off with a double to left field and took third base on a wild pitch.
Smith crossed home plate on sophomore Slater Mersola’s sacrifice fly to right field.
A two-run fifth inning by Burroughs increased the margin to 4-0 as eight batters trotted to the plate including five that reached base.
Ross opened the frame with a base hit to right field and Guevara’s single to right center scored Ross.
Guevara promptly stole second base and also third base and scored on an error.
Junior Logan Drossin also singled for the Bears in the third inning, stole second base and moved to third on Guevara’s hit but didn’t score.
