By Rick Assad
It began nicely enough for the Burroughs High baseball team and then it became quite good, but after an ugly sixth inning, matters turned sour in an eventual 9-2 setback at the hands of Arcadia in a Pacific League encounter on Tuesday night at Tomahawk Field.
After the Apaches (6-2 and 1-0 in league) grabbed a 1-0 advantage in the top of the first inning, the newly-minted Bears (2-6 and 0-1 in league) struck for a pair of runs in the bottom of the second frame.
The key blow was delivered by sophomore Jarell Bijasa, who connected on a two-out single to right field.
Scoring on the shot were junior Aidan Cremarosa, who doubled to center field with one out and sophomore Nick Forrest, who reached on an infield hit.
Despite the lopsided final score, Matt Magallon, the Burroughs coach, said errors were a key factor in the loss, and that they’re correctable, with time.
“We have to learn how to weather the storm,” he explained. “We beat ourselves tonight. Sometimes the best throws are no-throws.”
Burroughs entered the game having won two consecutive matches and they included a 5-1 triumph at El Camino Real and a 6-4 decision over Etiwanda at home.
On the night, the Bears committed four miscues while the Apaches, who came into Tuesday’s contest averaging 5.8 runs per game, finished with none.
Arcadia opened the season with three consecutive victories after beating host California 8-0, visiting Alta Loma 7-1 and Chino Hills 5-4 on the road.
Bishop Amat then edged the host Apaches 2-1, but Arcadia then routed visiting Cypress 7-2, before falling to host St. John Bosco 8-2. An 11-5 victory over visiting Charter Oak followed that loss.
Arcadia produced two of their own runs in the top of the third inning after junior Ari Nurhadi laced a two-out triple to left center field.
On the base hit, senior Mickey Easter, who was safe on an error and Brandon Nguyen, who walked, both crossed the plate.
Magallon is in his second season at the helm for the Bears and wants to build a winning program.
But with five players who are sophomores, he understands that it’s not going to happen over night.
“They [Arcadia] have a winning culture and they’re a very good team. We are trying to build a winning culture,” he said.
The fateful sixth inning for the Apaches began with a single to right center by junior Hunter Victorio.
Zachary Huerta reached on an error and as did junior Alex Dolan. Easter (two base hits that included a double) then dragged a ball past the pitcher, junior Vasista Dhyasani, for a single and senior Casey Spencer did the same thing.
Nguyen was then hit by a pitched ball which resulted in a run batted in and junior Daniel Chavez chimed in with a run-scoring single to right center for another RBI.
Nurhadi, who singled in the second inning, tossed in a run-producing ground out and senior Matthew McIntire added a two-run double to left field.
It’s not as though the Bears have played poorly.
They have not. In four games that were decided by two runs or less, Burroughs has lost three of the four.
They included a 6-5 loss at Los Altos, a 5-4 decision at home versus Los Osos and a 7-5 defeat at Simi Valley. Burroughs opened the season with a 7-4 loss at Monrovia.
Junior Mason Medina came off the bench and produced a one-out single to left field for the Bears in the seventh.
The next batter, Bijasa then bounced into a game-concluding double play to secure the win for the Apaches.
Arcadia jumped ahead 1-0 in the first inning when Easter clubbed a double to center field that brought in Dolan, who led off the game with a walk.
Spencer went five and one-third innings for the Apaches and was the winning pitcher.
The hard-throwing right-hander struck out eight and surrendered three hits with two hit batters.
