After the Arcadia High School baseball team roughed up Burroughs junior pitcher Nick Forrest for three earned runs in the first inning, the Apaches looked to go undefeated in Pacific League play.
But Burroughs came back with four runs in the second set, thanks in part to four errors from Arcadia, and that’s how it went for the Apaches, who didn’t offer much offense the rest of the way. , losing 5-3 on Friday afternoon.
Arcadia were hoping for a sweep after beating Burroughs earlier in the week but instead suffered their first league loss.
“I mean we practice this stuff all the time,” Arcadia head coach Nick Lemas said of his team’s poor performance on the field. “We had chances and we just didn’t take care of the ball. We don’t have the luxury of not taking care of the baseball. After scoring three and hitting ball hell in the first inning, to do that (commit four pitch errors) is disappointing.
Arcadia’s sloppy second inning began with Burroughs’ first four batters reaching base – three of them on fielding errors.
On one of the throwing errors, the Bears (10-8.6-2) scored two runs on the same play when there was a knockdown at first base, which scored elder Mason Medina. But as Arcadia looked to get the ball back into the infield, they were unable to line up the throw to second base. The ball rolled into shallow left field and another run from second, cutting Arcadia’s lead to 3-2.
After tying the score on another Apache error, Burroughs took a 4-3 lead after the RBI hit on the ground by Andrew Champan.
A huge second inning was all Forrest needed to settle into the game and strike out 15 of the next 18 batters. Forrest pitched six innings, allowing three runs with seven hits and four strikeouts.
“(Forrest) is a great player,” Burroughs head coach Matt Magallon said of his pitcher. “He’s a guy we’re counting on to be our Friday starter. He is not afraid of the moment.
The Bears made another insurance run in the top of the fifth. With two outs, Chavez brought in a runner with the bases loaded, giving the Bears a 5-3 lead. Chavez went five innings, with three earned runs, four errors and three strikeouts.
Arcadia pitcher Daniel Chavez made a few mistakes that led to Burroughs’ big second inning, but otherwise he pitched well.
“(Chavez) throws well. He didn’t allow those errors to affect his ability to throw shots,” Lemas said. “But after the ball was put in play, that’s when we collapsed.”
Before Arcadia’s disastrous second inning, the Apaches were the first to open the scoring in the bottom half of the first inning thanks to an RBI brace from senior Lance Wong.
After senior Alex Dolan reached base with a first single and stole second base, Wong broke a 3-1 pitch on the center field wall and gave Arcadia a 1-0 lead.
Two batters later, Arcadia doubled their lead when senior Nuri Nurhadi hit an RBI double, scoring Wong from second base.
Arcadia scored another goal before the end of the inning when senior Julian Guiterrez drove Nurhadi from third base. On the second throw from the bat, Guiterrez hit an RBI single into left field, giving Arcadia a 3-0 lead heading into the 2nd inning.
The Bears would score five unanswered runs before splitting the series and handing Arcadia its first Pacific League loss.
Arcadia will begin a two-game non-league series with Redondo Union beginning April 5 before beginning a pivotal two-game series with league foes Burbank on April 12.
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