Pasadena Beats Burbank Baseball 16-6 in Mercy Rule Win

Pasadena handed Burbank High’s baseball team a rough afternoon on Tuesday, rolling to a 16-6 mercy-rule victory in Pacific League play at Burbank.

The Bulldogs actually showed some early life. Senior Ryland Le Clair got things started in the first inning with a solo home run to right center, tying the game at 1-1 after Pasadena scored on a stolen base sequence and an infield single by Maximus Reynolds. Sophomore Luka Kuiper extended the lead in the second, delivering a two-run single to right field that put Burbank ahead 3-1. For about six innings worth of baseball time, things looked promising.

Then the third inning arrived, and so did Pasadena’s lineup.

The visitors sent nine batters to the plate in the third, scoring four times on two hits. Ryan Chen drove in two with a single to left, and Reese Kim added a sacrifice fly to center. Burbank answered in the bottom half, trimming the deficit to 5-4 and keeping the game within reach.

The fourth inning ended that conversation. Pasadena sent 13 batters to the plate, 10 of them reaching base by hit or walk, and piled on eight runs on eight hits. Kim had an RBI double to left center. Aaron Martinez added a two-run double to left field. Bruno Pierandozzi hit a two-run double to left center, and Dylan Derosier, who was a consistent problem all afternoon with two singles and two doubles on the day, contributed a two-run double to left field. Kim added a run-scoring single up the middle. By the time the inning was over, Pasadena led 13-4.

Burbank scored twice in the fourth, with senior Tomas Angel picking up a run-scoring single to center, making it 13-6. But Pasadena tacked on three more in the fifth, with Pierandozzi drawing a bases-loaded walk, Derosier adding a sacrifice fly, and Kim collecting yet another RBI on a run-scoring double. The 16-6 final triggered the mercy rule.

Burbank finished with seven hits. Junior Ezekiel Canto picked up singles in the second and fourth innings. Junior Casey Peters started on the mound and lasted two and a third innings, allowing three hits, striking out one, and walking three. Junior Carter Williamson absorbed the bulk of the damage, giving up nine hits while striking out two and walking three.

Pasadena out-hit Burbank 13-7 for the game, and Kim’s performance stood out particularly, going three for four with two doubles and a single to go along with multiple RBIs.

Head coach Bob Hart, who has guided the Burbank program for years, wasn’t hiding from the result after the game. “It was very disappointing. We felt like we were starting to turn the corner a little bit,” Hart said. He pointed to internal accountability as the path forward. “We will try to do a better job and hopefully they will follow our lead.”

The loss drops Burbank to 1-5-1 overall and 1-1-1 in Pacific League play. The record reflects a team still searching for consistency, though the first two innings on Tuesday showed the Bulldogs can compete when things click. The problem Tuesday was a middle portion of the game that turned a close contest into a blowout before Burbank had a chance to respond.

Pasadena moves to 2-6 overall and 1-2 in league, meaning neither team is running away with anything in the standings. For Burbank, the schedule doesn’t pause for reflection. The Bulldogs will need to clean up the pitching and shore up the defense if they want to make a run at relevance in Pacific League play before the season gets away from them entirely.

The early home run from Le Clair and the timely hitting from Kuiper suggest the offense has tools. Whether the pitching staff can hold a lead long enough for those tools to matter is the more pressing question heading into the next stretch of league games.