Baseball: Tigers, Rebels and Spartans See Seasons End

It was an exciting week for the Tigers, but it ultimately ended in defeat. The Tigers overcame the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 wildcard round with a narrow 2-1 defeat over Nordhoff, but then fell 4-3 to Torrance on Thursday.

“I’m extremely proud of the group of seniors,” said South Pasadena coach Anthony Chevrier. “I only wish I was able to coach them for four years. They’re a great group of kids.”

Two seniors came up big in Tuesday’s victory. Tony Veiller threw a complete game, allowing one run. He gave up two bloop-singles in the second inning that led to a run, but was otherwise dominant.

The Tigers had no hits through five innings, but South Pasadena’s offense awoke for three hits in the sixth inning. Anthony D’Oro’s RBI double gave the Tigers the equalizer. Then with two outs in the top of the seventh, senior Connor Bednarski drove in Brendan Perry from second base with an RBI single for the winning run.

“It was an exciting game and a big win for the program,” Chevrier said.

In his two seasons at the helm, Chevrier has coached the Tigers to consecutive third place finishes in the Rio Hondo league and now a playoff win.  With continued improvement, Chevrier believes can the team can compete for a league title next season.

“Hopefully the underclassmen learned from this senior class and will inherit their work ethic,” Chevrier said.

Flintridge Prep

The Rebels drew a tough first-round matchup last Thursday in the Division 6 playoffs against Vasquez, a second place team out of the competitive Desert Mountain League. But Flintridge Prep felt it stood a great chance with ace pitcher Royce Park on the mound. 

However, Park wasn’t his dominant self and the Rebels made costly errors and eventually fell 8-6 despite outhitting the Mustangs 11-9.

Flintridge Prep jumped on top in the first inning when Steve Fleming scored two on a single. Vasquez coach Jason Edwards made a quick pitching change and the Mustangs got out of the inning having allowed three runs.

The Rebels immediately surrendered their lead when errors and a timely hit by Vasquez scored three runs.

Park surrendered two more runs in the third inning and was relieved in the fourth. The Rebels tied the game up in the top of the sixth inning with two runs capped by an RBI-single by Brenden McKiernen.

Unfortunately the Rebels couldn’t hold their lead and the Mustangs scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning en route to victory.

It’s an especially disappointing loss for the Rebels who, despite success in the Prep League, have not won a playoff game in Coach Buzz Cook’s eight-year tenure. However, the team’s future looks bright with just one graduating senior, albeit a talented one in shortstop Kyle McDonald (.408 BA, 32 runs).

“I feel very confident for next season,” said Cook. “We have a lot of talent coming back and the boys are already looking forward to workouts in the Fall.”

La Canada

The Spartans put a nice run together by winning five of their last seven games in the Rio Hondo League to receive an at-large bid into the wildcard round of the Division 4 playoffs, but that run came to an end last Thursday.

After Tuesdays' rainout pushed the Spartans wildcard round game back two days, La Canada fell 8-3 to Summit, a second place team out of the Sunkist league. The Spartans jumped ahead 3-1 in the fourth, but had a rough bottom half of the inning, allowing six runs.

“We played some nice defense and got some great pitching down the stretch,” said La Canada coach Dennis Ballard. “We competed with the best teams in the league.”

The Spartans will need to address pitching next season. Dynamic pitching duo Sam Baldwin (2.83 ERA) and Brendon Shoemake (2.57 ERA) are both graduating seniors.