Burroughs Bears hand Apaches their first league loss to move into a share of first place

The John Burroughs Bears defeated the Arcadia Apaches 6-5 in walk-off fashion as Logan Drossin delivered a game-winning RBI single to hand the Apaches their first loss in Pacific League play. The win moved the Bears into a 3-way tie for first place in the Pacific League with the Crescenta Valley Falcons and Arcadia. Burroughs entered the contest coming off a 2 game sweep of the Pasadena Bulldogs last week on Tuesday, April 9th, and Friday, April 12th along with a 9-1 win over Castaic. Arcadia was also coming off a 2 game sweep, with the Apaches triumphing by scores of 9-1 in both wins over the Glendale Nitros.

For the opening three innings of the contest, both the Bears and Apaches were held scoreless with Kenny Montgomery and Gabe Lopez matching each other in a pitcher’s duel. Burroughs had a chance to get on the board early but Nate Chapman, who reached when he was hit by Lopez, got caught stealing at 2nd base while trying to move into scoring position. Devin Whittenkeind eventually got the scoring going for the Bears, driving home Elliot Ross on an RBI sac fly in the bottom of the 4th inning.

Burroughs had a 4-run bottom of the 5th inning with Dylan Connahan scoring a run on a Willie Armes sacrifice bunt that resulted in errors by Arcadia’s 1st and 2nd basemen. Nick Fritz and Whittenkeind earned an RBI on bases-loaded walks, and Christian Perez had an RBI single with the bases loaded. The Bears led 5-0 at the end of the bottom of the 5th inning.

The Apaches responded with a 5-run top of the 6th inning to tie the score at 5 with rbi’s by Leo Peniche, Avery Truesdale, Fernando Palencia, Damian Catano, and Jerry Carlos. Catano had a chance to score the go-ahead run on a wild pitch, but Kyle Smith tagged Catano out at home plate to keep the score tied at 5.

The Bears put together the winning rally starting with back-to-back one-out singles by Fritz and Whittenkind. Christian Perez was unable to win the game when he grounded into a fielder’s choice with Fritz out at home plate. Logan Drossin delivered in the clutch with a walk-off infield RBI single to score pinch runner Tommy Vournas to win the game for Burroughs.

“I told this team yesterday that we were going to win. We have a lot of fight in this team, especially with our pitching and hitting,” said Bears head coach Matt Magallon. Magallon stated that he wasn’t surprised when Logan Drossin hit the walk-off RBI infield single, since he knows that’s what the team expects out of him and calls Drossin the captain of the infield.

Burroughs improves to 18-3 overall and 10-1 in Pacific League play and Arcadia drops to 15-7 overall and 10-1 in Pacific League play. Both teams will play again at Arcadia High School on Friday, April 19th, with the first pitch scheduled for 3:30 p.m.