By Rick Assad
Knowing just how good and deep and talented the opponent is, the Burroughs High baseball team had to fight especially hard.
The Bears didn’t score for six innings but finally broke through in the seventh when the Pacific League game was tied.
Two innings later, visiting Arcadia would take a two-run advantage and eventually earn a 3-1 win over the Bears on Friday night and remain on top and undefeated in league.
Trailing 1-0, Burroughs (10-8 and 7-3 in league), which had three hits, evened it at 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh when senior Roberto Castaneda led off with a single to center field.
Senior Jarrel Bijasa reached on a force out and then stole second base and third base.
After senior Steve Suarez was hit by a pitch, sophomore Lucas Beltran, who was the starting pitcher, scored the runner on a ground out.
The Apaches failed to score in the top of the eighth as did the Bears, but in the ninth inning, Arcadia (17-3 and 10-0 in league), which defeated Burroughs 4-1 at home on Tuesday, then struck for two runs as it sent six batters to the plate.
The frame began with freshman Maverick Silva striking out looking. Senior Devon Eskridge walked and after junior Fernando Palencia, who had two hits including a double off the fence to left field in the fifth, flied out to right field for the second out, but senior Christian Garcia was hit by a pitch.
Each runner moved up a base on a wild pitch and both were in scoring position when sophomore Avery Truesdale (three hits) sliced a hard-hit ball to right center for a double as both men on base crossed the plate for a 3-1 edge.
“We gave them a run for their money. They’re a good team. They’re coached well. They played well and we didn’t execute tonight, Not at all,” Burroughs coach Matt Magallon said.
Magallon compared last night to a previous game which his club won.
“We didn’t put bunts down. We didn’t execute hit-and runs. Everything we did against Glendale to win a game, we didn’t do this game and we played nine innings,” he said. “The team can play at this level, that’s evident, but we can’t let a good team capitalize on mistakes.”
Even with the setback, Magallon knows they will take this game as a learning lesson.
“That’s a great team unit over there. A lot of seniors. A lot of guys that have been through it. I think our youth showed a little bit today. It’s a learning experience. These guys are going to get better,” he said. “If we don’t learn from this and we don’t adapt from this, we’re never going to grow.”
The ninth inning came quickly for the Bears who saw Bijasa walk, but then was caught stealing second base.
Suarez fouled out to the first baseman and pinch hitter junior Wyatt Augenstein struck out swinging to cap the game.
Neither team scored for the first two innings but in the third inning, Palencia, who earned the win in relief, singled up the middle with two outs and then swiped second base.
Garcia walked and Truesdale laced a sharply hit single to center which scored a run as he took second base on the throw.
Junior Gabriel Lopez, who used a high-effective curveball, was the starting pitcher for the Apaches and allowed his first hit with two outs in the fourth inning when senior Sebastian Zamora singled to center field but was caught stealing for the third out.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Castaneda reached on a leadoff infield single and raced to second base on a one-out sacrifice bunt. Beltran fanned swinging to end the threat.
Castaneda also opened the seventh frame with a single to center but was erased when he tried to steal second base but the pitcher threw to the second baseman for the out.
Lopez went six plus innings, striking out 10 and walking one batter. Lopez gave up three hits and hit a batter.
Palencia worked three innings, fanned two, walked three and nicked two batters.
The hard-throwing Beltran toiled five frames, yielded six hits, with five strikeouts, one walk and one hit batter.
Zamora took the setback after working four innings, walking six, striking out four, hitting one batter and surrendering one hit.
