Much of the talk around Pacific League baseball this season has been about Arcadia High, which has yet to lose a game.
But Tuesday afternoon Burroughs High faced perhaps its toughest league opponent in Crescenta Valley left-handed pitcher Trevor Beer.
Beer dominated the Indians in six innings of work by striking out 13 in a 9-0 road win for the Falcons.
“I can’t make excuses. We lost to the best pitcher in the league,” Burroughs coach Craig Sherwood said of the UC Santa Barbara-bound star. “I’ve seen all the pitchers in this league and by far he’s the best guy.”
Burroughs (10-12, 4-6 in the league) wasn’t completely shut out against Beer but was unable to capitalize on the one big chance it had.
The Indians had back-to-back singles in the second inning from Nicco Chuidian and Nathan Palafox.
Brandon Giraldo then followed with a bloop single to right field.
However, Chuidian was thrown out at home plate to end the threat.
Burroughs had just two hits the rest of the way, a single by Jacob Barrera in the fourth inning and a fifth-inning double by Brian Garcia.
Beer credited his team (19-4, 10-0 in the league) for helping make his job easier.
“The offense came out and got some runs early. It makes me more comfortable on the mound and just throw whatever pitches coach Beer calls,” Beer said of his father, Darren, the longtime Falcon pitching coach. “We knew they (Burroughs) always come out and play hard against us. They are at their home field. We knew they’d come out and try to make a statement.”
CV scored three runs in the first inning, two in the second and one in the third. Burroughs used six pitchers and committed five errors. The Falcons scored once more in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
After Beer left, Burroughs was unable to get any runners on against Falcons closer Luke Hempel.
“I want the guys to be aggressive. I watch them in batting practice. They hit the ball to the right side. They hit line drives and when we get in the games and I don’t know what we’re looking for,” said a frustrated Sherwood of his team.
