The Burroughs High baseball team found itself in a good-sized hole against visiting Burbank High Friday.
But the Indians battled back to send the game into extra innings and ultimately won 6-5 when Andrew Jacob Barrera slid head first into first base to beat out a double play opportunity that scored Ricky Perez for the winning run.
“I’m extremely proud of my seniors, the way they stepped up tonight,” Burroughs coach Craig Sherwood said of the nine-inning game. “The entire team played to the caliber they are capable of playing to. I think we beat a very good team tonight in Burbank and I’m very proud of all my guys.”
Burroughs (13-13, 8-6 in league) finishes the regular season in fourth place in the Pacific League standings, while Burbank (14-9, 10-4) finished third after Arcadia upset previously unbeaten Crescenta Valley to take second.
Burbank was clearly the better team the first half of the game. The Bulldogs scored twice in the second inning, paced by a run-scoring single from Max Meltzer. Burbank added two more runs in the fourth inning to take a 4-0 lead thanks to Burroughs as one run scored via a bases loaded walk and another from a hit batter with the bases loaded.
Burbank starting pitcher Henry Leake allowed just one runner to reach base in the first three innings. But Burroughs was hoping he would get tired. He left after the sixth inning, having thrown 105 pitches.
In the fourth inning, Burroughs took advantage of a Burbank error. Nathan Palafox singled home Justin Palafox and Angel Estrada had a two-run single to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 4-3.
Burbank increased its lead to 5-3 in the fifth inning when Javier Reyes singled home Matthew Shaugabay.
Burroughs tied things up in the sixth inning thanks to a pair of Burbank errors that scored Justin Palafox and Barrera.
Burbank coach Bob Hart assessed his team.
“We didn’t come up with some timely hits early in that game,” Hart said. “We left far too many runners on base. When you do that you leave the door open. When you leave the door open they are capable of coming back and they did a good job.”
Both teams are expected to play in the postseason and will find out their fate Monday when the CIF Southern Section releases the baseball playoff pairings.
