Baseball Notebook: Arcadia-CV Showdown Highlights Final Week of Season

The Apaches are riding two remarkable streaks as they head into their final week of league action. The team has won 29 consecutive games in the Pacific League and ace pitcher KJ Edson has thrown 25 consecutive scoreless innings, allowing just eight hits over the span.

“I feel confident with KJ going up against anyone,” said Arcadia coach Nick Lemas. “He battles and keeps us in games. I just wish we could score more runs for him.”

When last checked, Edson had just thrown his fourth shutout of the season against Pasadena on Wednesday. He surrendered just one hit in six scoreless innings en route to a 6-0 victory. Darren Kerfoot picked up two RBIs in a three-hit performance.

In Friday’s 3-0 victory over Burbank Edson threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Erik Trask to pick up his second save of the season. Edson is now 9-1 with a 0.62 ERA and hasn’t allowed a run since the fifth inning of a 4-2 victory over Crescenta Valley on April 15.

The Apaches should have no problem running their winning streak to 30 games against seventh-place Glendale on Tuesday, but Friday’s matchup with second-place Crescenta Valley will be their biggest game of the season and Edson will likely take the mound.

League Standings: The only thing standing between Arcadia (12-0) and its second Pacific League title in a row is Crescenta Valley (12-1). Arcadia hosts the Falcons on Friday at 7 p.m. for the league title.

Crescenta Valley

Since losing to Arcadia 4-2 back on April 15, the Falcons have done everything necessary to enter Friday’s rematch with the league title on the line.

Crescenta Valley beat Pasadena 4-3 in extra innings on Friday behind the strong pitching of Kyle Murray to run its current winning streak up to seven games.

“Both teams were pitching well,” Crescenta Valley coach Phil Torres said. “It was a big win, and this is going to be a huge week.”

The Falcons are set for a final game showdown with undefeated Arcadia this Friday, but first they must get past a competitive Burbank team on Tuesday.

“We can’t look past Burbank, they’re playing for a playoff spot,” said Torres.

League Standings: The Falcons (12-1) can finish no worse than second in the Pacific League, but really they want win their first league title since 2008.

Monrovia

Monrovia had an up-and-down week. On Wednesday the Wildcats got a huge 2-1 over South Pasadena, snapping a strenuous seven-game losing streak.

“If you go into any game thinking about how many you’ve lost in a row, you’re probably gonna lose another,” said Monrovia co-head coach Brad Blackmore after the win. “We had six days off which allowed us to catch our breath and go at the rest of the season one game at a time.”

Kevin Shue played a big part in snapping the skid, pitching all seven innings and allowing just one run on three hits.

The win landed Monrovia in second place in the Rio Hondo league, a spot quickly relinquished with a 4-3 loss to La Canada on Thursday. It’s the second time in two weeks that the Wildcats were bested by a much-improved Spartan squad.

The loss killed any remote chance of Monrovia catching Temple City to repeat as Rio Hondo league champs, but the Wildcats can still clinch a playoff birth by winning either of their two remaining matchups: Temple City on Tuesday or San Marino on Thursday.

League Standings: The Wildcats sit in third place in the Rio Hondo League, one game back of second-place South Pasadena (6-4) with two games left to play. Monrovia (5-5) owns a tie-breaker over South Pasadena and, with both teams set to play first-place Temple City in the final week, it’s certainly possible for the Wildcats to take second.

South Pasadena

South Pasadena’s rise through the Rio Hondo league standings took a step back with Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to Monrovia.

Tony Veiller pitched seven strong innings, allowing two runs (one earned) and striking out five, but the Tiger offense couldn’t pick up a timely hit against Monrovia’s Kevin Shue.

“Tony put us in a position to win, but we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities,” said South Pasadena coach Anthony Chevrier. “We weren’t making adjustments at the plate.” 

The loss temporarily dropped the Tigers into third place in the Rio Hondo league, but a Monrovia loss to La Canada on Thursday vaulted South Pasadena back into second.

The Tigers played a nonleague matchup against CIF-SS Division 6 powerhouse Pasadena Poly on Saturday, losing 10-6. Both teams limited their pitchers’ innings in the midst of league competition.

League Standings: The team has improved immensely in Chevrier’s second season at the helm and will be headed to the CIF-SS Division 4 playoffs.

South Pasadena (6-4) will play La Canada (4-7) on Tuesday and Temple City (9-1) on Thursday. Two wins or a win coupled with a Monrovia loss would clinch second place for the Tigers.

St. Francis

Things have gotten interesting in the Mission League after St. Francis split a critical two-game series with third-place Alemany last week.

In Tuesday’s series-opener, the Knights fell behind 9-2 and nearly came back, scoring five runs in the sixth inning and one in the seventh, but eventually fell 9-8.

The Knights didn’t wait as long to get the bats going in Friday’s second game. Senior Dave Hubinger cracked a three-run homer in the first inning to give starting pitcher Tei Vanderford all the support he would need. 

Vanderford threw four scoreless innings, but gave up four runs in the fifth inning. In the bottom of the fifth inning he hit a two-run home run to put the game out of reach.

“It was a huge win,” St. Francis coach Brian Esquival. “We swung the bats well right from the beginning and made some plays behind Vanderford.”

With two league games remaining, the Knights are in a tie for fourth place with Notre Dame and four teams are guaranteed a CIF-SS Division 2 playoff spot out of the highly-competitive Mission league.

“Nothing ever seems to be settled until the last game of the season and that’s just the nature of the Mission league,” Esquival said. “We have to win at least one of our last two games.”

League Standings: The Knights (4-6) are tied with Notre Dame (4-6) for fourth place and play sixth-place Loyola (3-7) in their final two games. Notre Dame will place first-place Chaminade (8-2) twice to end the season while third-place Alemany (6-6) has completed its schedule. Two wins this week for the Knights could land them in a third-place tie with Alemany.

La Salle

Few teams are fortunate enough to know their final league standing, playoff seed, and preferred playoff rotation far in advance of the end of the season, but the Lancers are in that very position.

La Salle finished its league schedule last week by splitting a two-game series with St. Paul to take second place in the Del Rey league. Garry Goebel pitched six innings, allowing one run, to pick up his fourth win of the season.

The Lancers will stay active with a nonleague doubleheader against Maranatha on Tuesday and nonleague game with Montclair Prep on Thursday, but it wouldn’t be surprising if La Salle coach Harry Agajanian gives his studs plenty of rest in preparation of next week’s CIF-SS Division 4 playoffs.

League Standings: La Salle (8-4) finished in second place in the Del Rey League behind perennial powerhouse Bishop Amat (11-0). The Lancers finished in third place last year and fourth the year before.

Flintridge Prep

Much like La Salle, Flintridge Prep has already done all it can do leading up to the CIF-SS Division 6 playoffs. A three-game sweep of Rio Hondo Prep two weekends ago assured the Rebels of a second place finish in the Prep League.

League Standings: Flintridge Prep (6-4) will finish in second place behind Pasadena Poly for the second year in a row. They finish Prep League play with games this week against Chadwick (Tuesday) and Webb (Thursday).

Games of the Week

Tuesday, 3:30 p.m. – Monrovia vs. Temple City

A midseason slump may have prevented a repeat league championship for Monrovia, but the Wildcats could still make a big statement by knocking off the league champion Rams as they head into the CIF-SS Division 4 playoffs.

Thursday, 3:15 p.m. – Loyola at St. Francis

The Knights will be playing for a playoff birth and a share of the third place in the Mission League during this week’s two-game series with Loyola, but they’ll also be playing for something else: player pool.

“A lot of the (student-athletes) in the area have a choice between attending St. Francis or Loyola,” said St. Francis coach Brian Esquival. “For that reason we want to stay on top of Loyola.”

The Knights play at Loyola on Tuesday and at home on Thursday.

Friday, 7:00 p.m. – Crescenta Valley at Arcadia

When asked about his team’s active winning streak of 29 games in the Pacific League, coach Nick Lemas responded with the following:

“To be honest we haven’t really thought about the streak. We’re just focused on winning league and if it takes an undefeated season to do it, then so be it.”

Well it seems Lemas’ words were somewhat prophetic because it looks like an undefeated season will be required for the Apaches to repeat as league champs. The Falcons have rattled off seven straight wins, including four shutouts, since losing 4-2 to the Apaches on April 15.

Stat Lines of the Year

With many teams closing out their seasons and fortunate others headed to the playoffs, it’s time to take a look at which area-players turned in big seasons worthy of All-League consideration.

Arcadia

Tyler Dominguez, senior, shortstop: .286 BA, 16 runs, 11 RBI.

Erik Trask, junior, pitcher/outfield: .273 BA, 14 runs, 12 RBI, 10 SB; 39 IP, 7-1, 1.08 ERA, 56 K.

Brendan Campbell, junior, catcher/infield: .379 BA, 1 HR, 14 RBI.

KJ Edson, senior, pitcher: 68 IP, 9-1, 0.62 ERA, 61 K.

Crescenta Valley

Kyle Pomeroy, senior, pitcher: 23 IP, 5-0, 0.61 ERA, 37 K.

Elliott Surrey, junior, pitcher/outfield: .361 BA, 2 HR, 21 runs, 19 RBI; 37.1 IP, 6-0, 0.19 ERA, 59 K.

Kyle Murray, junior, pitcher: 48.2 IP, 5-1, 1.15 ERA, 70 K.

Troy Prasertsit, junior, catcher: .435 BA, 11 runs, 13 RBI.

Troy Mulcahey, sophomore, pitcher/outfield: .465 BA, 9 HR, 23 runs, 25 RBI; 32.2 IP, 4-2, 0.64 ERA, 47 K.

Flintridge Prep

Kyle McDonald, senior, shortstop: .420 BA, 23 runs, 10 RBI, 12 SB.

Alex Sierra, junior, infield: .362 BA, 21 runs, 9 RBI.

Royce Park, junior, pitcher/third base: .463 BA, 1 HR, 21 runs, 20 RBI; 43 IP, 5-2, 2.44 ERA, 53 K.

Karlsen Termini, sophomore, first base: .321 BA, 1 HR, 23 RBI.

Brendan McKiernan, freshman, pitcher/infield: .411 BA, 24 runs, 15 RBI; 12.2 IP, 2.76 ERA.

La Canada

Scott Stetson, senior, infield: .411 BA, 10 runs, 7 SB.

Sam Baldwin, senior, pitcher: 40.2 IP, 2.58 ERA, 55 K.

La Salle

Michael Pedote, junior, outfield: .308 BA, 2 HR, 16 runs.

Chris Williams, junior, outfield: .357 BA, 5 HR, 14 runs, 22 RBI.

John Auer, senior, third base: .284 BA, 2 HR, 14 runs, 22 RBI.

Bowdien Derby, junior, pitcher/infield: .411 BA, 2 HR, 21 runs, 15 RBI; 64.1 IP, 8-1, 0.98 ERA, 74 K.

Monrovia

Nick Bueno, senior, shortstop: .418 BA, 22 runs, 22 SB.

Adrien Velasco, senior, catcher: .277 BA, 2 HR, 11 RBI.

Kevin Shue, junior, pitcher: 48.2 IP, 4-2, 3.02 ERA, 46 K.

Chris Burkholder, sophomore, pitcher: 42.2 IP, 2.95 ERA, 37 K.

San Marino

Justin Kreindler, junior, infield: .323 BA, 12 runs.

Doug Mayberry, senior, infield: .312 BA, 8 RBI.

Jeff Bain, freshman, pitcher: 38.1 IP, 2.19 ERA, 25 K.

South Pasadena

Dylan Trimarchi, junior, infield: .436 BA, 28 runs, 15 RBI, 13 SB.

Conor Bednarski, senior, outfield: .356 BA, 11 RBI.

Anthony D’ Oro, senior, pitcher/infield: .392 BA, 11 runs, 13 RBI; 54 IP, 5-2, 2.59 ERA, 25 K.

St. Francis

Stats unavailable. Please check back next week.