By Rick Assad
On a night more befitting a football game than baseball, Sebastian Zamora struck out the side over the first three innings en route to a 10-0 nonleague win in which the Division V champion Burroughs High team outclassed visiting Eastside 10-0 on Wednesday evening.
Since that title game in May 2022, the Bears have been placed in Division II, had 12 players graduate and also had to battle the loss of Nick Forrest, the No. 2 pitcher a year ago because of a torn labrum in his right shoulder.
Forrest had surgery in January and should return to throwing in six or seven months, spoke briefly before the game with the Lions.
Forrest said that his senior season is not likely to see him on the mound, though he didn’t rule out that he might pitch this season.
“I just pitched with confidence. Even though they weren’t touching it, I just tried to let them hit it because I trust my defense behind me,” said Suarez of his infield. “Even if they did put it in play, I knew they would make the plays.”
Suarez, who worked swiftly on this chilly 43-degree evening, is grateful to have pitched some in previous seasons.
“With pitching some before my senior year, I felt more confident,” he said.
The Bears (2-4) scratched together seven hits against three Lions’ pitchers in a contest that was cut short due to the 10-run mercy rule.
“With Nick Forrest going down, it opened up a lot of opportunities for other guys,” Burroughs coach Matt Magallon said. “We worked really hard with Zamora just establishing his off-speed pitches. His fastball is electric. I liked that he threw first pitch strikes and he closed the door when he had to.”
Zamora fanned the first nine batters he faced, then fanned one batter in the fourth inning before retiring the side on strikeouts in the fifth inning.
Junior Cesar Casas, junior Matthew Mena and senior Christopher Stanley all fanned swinging in the first frame.
Senior Domingo Villa whiffed swinging and senior Vincent Murillo and junior Kaiden Peterson both struck out looking in the second inning.
Sophomore Jordan Haro fanned looking, and sophomore Ethan Frost-Stokhaug both struck out swinging in the third inning.
Burroughs led 1-0 in the first inning and didn’t have a hit, and then exploded for six runs in the third inning as 10 batters came to the plate.
If that wasn’t enough, the Bears tacked on three runs in the fifth inning as seven hitters came to bat.
The Lions, who came from Lancaster, committed eight errors in the game, including five over the first three frames, while the Bears made one miscue.
Murillo fanned looking in the fifth inning, as did Peterson and Haro.
First baseman Lucas Beltran swatted a double down the line in left field in the second inning and added a triple to left in the fifth that drove in one run for Burroughs.
Bryan Martinez added a two-run run single in the third stanza, sophomore designated hitter Kenny Montgomery added an infield run-scoring single in the third inning, and junior Mason Mahay contributed a run-tallying double to left in the fifth.
Junior center fielder Dylan Conahan, who scored the only run in the Division V championship game, added a single to center field in the third inning and Steve Suarez chipped in with a single to center in the fifth frame.
Starting pitcher Stanley had the only hit for the Lions (0-3), an infield single in the fourth inning.
