Burlingame pitcher Noah Larkin turns in dominant pitching performance in win over San Mateo

“We’re a pretty deep team,” said Larkin, a 6-3, 180-pound senior lefty.

Larkin was on top of his game in his season debut, taking a no-hitter into the bottom of the sixth inning and eventually settling for a one-hit, 88-pitch win. Dexter Quisol cleaned up with a 1-2-3 seventh.

“I did know (I hadn’t allowed a hit), but I was trying not to think about that,” Larkin said.

If fans weren’t paying attention, they probably didn’t realize Larkin was spinning a gem. He walked San Mateo’s Luke Barrientos to lead off the bottom of the first — before promptly picking him off first. The Bearcats had two more base runners in the fourth via an error and Larkin’s second walk of the game.

But that was all offset by his 12 strikeouts. Larkin punched out two batters in the first, second, third and sixth innings, and struck out the side in the fourth.

And just to punctuate his dominance, he struck out a San Mateo batter to end the inning the first four innings of the game.

“Typical,” was how Burlingame manager Shawn Scott described Larkin’s outing. “Good tempo, good command of his pitches; trusting his stuff, trusting his teammates and he’s coachable.”

Scott said he lifted Larkin after six because of a pitch count, but would he have let his lefty go for the no-no?

“Maybe,” Scott said.

After striking out the first two batters of the sixth inning looking, Larkin surrendered his first hit when Kevin Sanchez rapped a solid single down the third-base line into left field.

San Mateo manager Neal Goldstein had a hunch Larkin would get the start against his Bearcats, which are currently playing Ironman baseball with a 10-player roster.

“[Tuesday] I threw a lefty in batting practice. He’s their ace. He’s a good pitcher,” Goldstein said. “I don’t think he overpowered us or we were overmatched.”

The Panthers’ offense helped Larkin early and often giving him a 1-0 lead before even taking the mound — all without benefit of a hit. With two outs, Johnny Suarez was hit by a pitch. He was balked to second and stole third, scoring when the ball got past the San Mateo third baseman and went into left field.

While the scoreboard was certainly lopsided, it was by no means a hit parade. Burlingame scored 12 runs on just seven hits, only a few of which were hit hard.

Instead of using their muscle, the Panthers used their eyes against the Bearcats. Staying patient at the plate, Burlingame drew 11 walks and five San Mateo pitchers — half the Bearcats’ roster — added six hit batters.

“Seventeen free passes doesn’t win you too many games,” Goldstein said. “And get one hit.”

The Panthers added three more runs in the second on just two hits —neither of which resulted in a RBI. Keunho Kim’s groundout to second drove in run, followed by RBI walks from cleanup hitter Taylor Kaufman and No. 5 batter Quisol.

San Mateo pitcher Edward Huang, who came on in relief for Jack Gispan, retired Burlingame in order in the third, notching a pair of strikeouts in the process.

“Jack didn’t have it today,” Goldstein said.

But Burlingame got back to its scoring ways in the fourth with Lou Martineau scoring a manufactured run on another error on a play at third base.

The Panthers went down in order in the fifth but put the game away with four runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh. First baseman Jake Caprini had the big hit with a two-run single in the sixth. This after Quisol drove in a run after getting hit by a pitch and Jacob Cilia drawing a bases-loaded walk.

In the seventh, Suarez had a RBI walk, Kaufman drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Caprini picked up his third RBI on the day with his third hit of the game.

All of which was just fine by Larkin.

“I just wanted to get the win,” Larkin said. “A no-hitter would be cool, but the win is better.”