Bears four run inning in the top of the seventh inning propelled them to a dominant victory over the Bulldogs 

The John Burroughs Bears completed the two-game sweep of their cross-town rival, Burbank Bulldogs, on Friday night, taking the second contest convincingly, 7-1. The Bears put the game out of reach with a four-run top of the seventh inning. Burroughs won the first game of the series 4-0 back on Tuesday night. 

Before the opening pitch, the Burbank Bulldogs Baseball program honored six of their graduating seniors in a pregame ceremony. Those six seniors are Colby Bette, Taylor Pryor, Michael Bui, Robert Snyder, Orion Bell, and Adrian Vasquez. Bette and Snyder will be playing baseball at the collegiate level next season. Bette will be playing at Los Angeles Valley College and Snyder will be playing at Occidental College. 

On the baseball field, Slater Mersola recorded a two-out RBI bases-loaded walk to give the Bears an early 1-0 lead over the Bulldogs. Robert Snyder got out of a bases-loaded jam by striking out Elvis Martinez looking to leave the bases full for Burroughs. Even so, the Bears were held without a hit for the first four innings of play. 

Robert Snyder jump-started the Bulldogs’ offense by getting on base with a leadoff infield single in the home half of the first inning. Snyder moved to second base when Jeremy Lee grounded out to the shortstop Elliott Ross and then advanced to third base on a wild pitch by Kyle Smith. Snyder tied the game on a throwing error charged to catcher Jack Smith. Adrian Vasquez then reached base on a one-out walk, and Colby Bette struck out swinging as Bette failed to move Vasquez into scoring position. Michael Bui then hit a two-out single to left field, but Vasquez was out at home plate on a strong relay play. Zach Guevara got the ball to Slater Mersola, who connected with Smith, applying the tag. 

While both teams were held scoreless in the second inning, Andrew Cosio got hit by a pitch to start the top of the third inning. There was an unfortunate injury delay on the play as the ball also deflected off catcher Colby Bette and then hit the home plate umpire in the side of his neck, which resulted in a 25-minute delay in the action. Following the delay, the Bears went up 2-0 on a RBI bases-loaded walk by Chase Robinson in the top of the third inning. 

Elvis Martinez broke up the combined no-hitter of the Bulldogs by hitting a single in the top of the fifth inning. Unfortunately, Burroughs was unable to capitalize. Chase Robinson grounded out to the pitcher, Orion Bell. Logan Drossin delivered a two-out single that looked like it could drive home Martinez, however Martinez was out at home plate with another great defensive play. Jeremy Lee threw Martinez out from right field, connecting with catcher Colby Bette to end the top of the fifth inning. 

The Bulldogs had chances to get back in the game in both the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings, but left Pryor and Bui stranded at first base to end both innings, snuffing out hopes of a late rally. 

The Bears put the game away with four runs on the board in the top of the seventh inning. Logan Drossin, Elliot Ross, and Zach Guevara all drove in runs to help seal the game for Burroughs. Kyle Smith nearly went the distance in his pitching outing after he got Ryland LeClair and Taylor Pryor on a ground out and strikeout, respectively, to start the seventh inning. He was then replaced by Kenny Montgomery, who froze Robert Snyder on a strikeout looking to end the game. Smith went 6.1 innings on the mound, striking out eight batters and allowing one run. 

Burroughs improves to 20-7 overall and 10-4 in Pacific League play, which puts them in second place over Crescenta Valley, with Burroughs owning the tiebreaker over CV. Burbank drops to 8-11 overall and 6-8 in the Pacific League, which puts them in danger of not making the CIF Southern Section playoffs. Both teams will find out their playoff fate next Saturday, May 12th, when the CIF Southern Section Playoff Bracket is released at 10:00 a.m.