Ryan Walsh strikes out nine batters in 5.1 innings pitched. 

Friday evening, the John Burroughs Bears came away with a dominant 8-1 victory over the John Muir Mustangs on senior night behind Ryan Walsh’s nine-strikeout performance. Burroughs took game one over Muir 10-3 last Tuesday afternoon. 

Before the first pitch, six graduating seniors from the John Burroughs Bears Baseball team were honored and celebrated with their families and loved ones. Those six seniors are Andrew Cosio, Elvis Martinez, Zach Byars, Kenny Montgomery, Chase Robinson, and Kyle Smith (Whittier College Commit). “It’s always a great tradition to celebrate with my brothers, teammates, and lifelong friends,” said Smith. He also said that this is only part one, because part two, as is tradition, will be against Burbank. The next time the six graduating seniors will be celebrated will be on Tuesday, April 29th, when they will be honored and recognized at their final home game of their high school careers against their cross-town rival Burbank.

On the baseball field, Walsh worked around a leadoff walk in the top of the first inning to Khalil Rishwain and struck out three batters in Conrad Hunziker, Fletcher Paddock, and Eduardo Sosa. Andrew Cosio and Devin Whittekiend had back-to-back RBIs to drive in the first two runs of the game for the Bears. 

The Mustangs then got on the board in the top of the second inning as Arturo Ayers scored on a throwing error by Devin Whittekiend. Following the unearned run, Walsh got the next three batters in Bryant Soriano, Luca Cano, and Lawton Gray Jr to end the visiting half of the second inning. The Bears were then held scoreless over the next two innings as their batters were retired in order. 

The Bears then continued to have control of the game the rest of the way, holding Muir to one run. Chase Robinson hit a two-out RBI double in the bottom of the sixth inning to put the game away. Kyle Smith recorded the final three outs in the top of the seventh inning to seal the Bears’ 8-1 victory over the Mustangs. 

“It was a great night honoring the six graduating seniors on our program; they are amazing young men and could not be more proud of them,” said Matt Magallon. Magallon mentioned that Kenny Montgomery was part of the Bears’ CIF Championship run in his freshman year in 2022 and called him a leader when asked about what every senior on the team has been part of the program for the past four years. 

Burroughs improves to 13-2 overall and 6-0 in the Pacific League, which puts them in a three-way tie with Arcadia and Crescenta Valley for first place in the Pacific League. Muir falls to 9-5 overall and 1-4 in Pacific League play. The Bears begin a two-game series with Pasadena this week. The first game will be at home on Tuesday, April 1 and the second at Pasadena on Friday, April 4. First pitch for both games is set for 3:45 p.m.