The baseball team beat the Burlingame Panthers 4-3 in a walk-off victory on Wednesday. The Bears maintain first place in their CCS division; their conference record now stands at 9-2.
Senior pitcher Anthony Kabrich started strong, pitching three scoreless innings, giving up only two walks and a single to Burlingame hitters. However, the Bears were unable to get anything going on offense against the Panthers’ pitcher, and the game remained scoreless going into the fourth inning.
In the top of the fourth, Kabrich gave up two singles. Following a sacrifice bunt to move them into scoring position, a Burlingame double scored them both and put them ahead 2-0.
The Bears answered back in the bottom of the inning with junior second baseman Ryder Kelly singling and getting to third when the Burlingame third baseman made a throwing error when attempting to pick him off after senior first baseman Jimmy Zaharias lined out. Senior shortstop Will Roberts singled to center to score him, cutting the Bears’ deficit in half and making the score 2-1.
In the top of the fifth, senior position Tyler Rosenthal came in to pitch and immediately got into trouble, giving up a single, a walk, and two stolen bases to put Burlingame runners on second and third base with nobody out. However, he got the next two batters to ground out, with Zaharias throwing the runner from third out at home. He then gave up a walk but struck out the next batter, ending a high stress inning without giving up a run.
The Bears tied the game in the bottom of the fifth when junior center fielder Merrick Lee hit a ground-rule double and scored on a Kelly pop-up that fell without finding a Burlingame glove. The Panthers retook the lead in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice fly to go up 3-2.
The game was quiet until the last half of the seventh when junior pinch-hitter MJ Ellazar walked and Kelly hit another infield popup that fell between the Burlingame pitcher and first baseman to put runners on first and second base. Zaharias then stepped up to the plate and hit a booming line drive to the center field wall that scored both runners, putting the Bears ahead 4-3 and securing the game for M-A.
The team ran out of the dugout and mobbed Zaharias on his way to second base, cheering and celebrating another win in what has been a strong season for the Bears as they prepare for the playoffs.
The Bears will play the Burlingame Panthers on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
