Panthers tame Lions

The Burlingame baseball team had its home opener at Washington Park Tuesday afternoon against Galileo of San Francisco. Despite an 8-3 win, the final score was a bit deceiving. As such, Burlingame manager Rich Sciutto and his coaching staff spent a good 15 minutes in their post-game meeting with the team. Considering the Panthers are one of the favorites to win the Peninsula Athletic League's Bay Division, Sciutto wanted to make sure the Panthers weren't too full of themselves. "We still have a ways to go to get to that next level to play Aragon (in the PAL opener next week)," Sciutto said. "It's just the little things." The game was the Panthers' first since their game against Sacred Heart Cathedral was halted last Wednesday due to darkness and their annual tilt with Serra last Friday night was rained out. Add to that a very good pitcher in Galileo's Dillon Nelson and it added up to a tough day offensively for the Panthers. Their eight runs came on just six hits as they took advantage of four Galileo errors. "When we started out, we were dragging a little bit. Maybe [we] came out a little flat," Sciutto said. "The first [time through the batting order] we didn't expect what we saw (from Nelson). It took a little time to read this guy." Nelson, who threw his fastball in the mid 80s, struck out eight, and of the eight runs Burlingame scored, only three were earned. Ryan Bender's double in the second and Nick Martinez's double in the third were the only hits Burlingame managed through the first three innings, but the Panthers finally got to Nelson in fourth -- but it wasn't very convincing. Mitch Foley led off the inning with an infield hit, beating out a grounder to shortstop. He moved to second on a wild pitch, went to third on a Bender comebacker to Nelson and scored on a wild pitch to put Burlingame up 1-0. The Panthers increased their lead to 4-0 with a three-run fifth, during which none of the runs were charged to Nelson. With two outs, Max Elia reached on an error, which would have gotten the Lions out of the inning unscathed. Martinez came up and stroked a single to center and took second when Galileo tried to get Elia at third. Both runners came home on Chris Blanton's double, and he came around to score on a Foley single to left. After the Lions cut their deficit to 4-3 with a three-run sixth, the Panthers put the game away in the bottom of the frame, scoring four runs without benefit of a hit. Galileo committed three errors in the inning and had a wild pitch. Forrest Armanino reached on an error, Saamy Phan hit into a fielder's choice with Armanino safe at second on the second error of the inning. D.J. Sharabi was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Bryan Kuh came up and hit into a fielder's choice, but the throw home was wide, allowing two runs to score. Sharabi scored on a wild pitch and the final run of the inning came on an Elia groundout. The late offense made a winner of Burlingame starting pitcher Justin Kuh, who went the first five innings, allowing just two hits and striking out six. A junior, Kuh doesn't blow away the opposition with fast or hard stuff, but he mixed his pitches well, changed speeds, effectively spotted the ball and depended on his defense. "He's been doing real good for us," Sciutto said. "He can be in the mix (to be a front-line guy), no question. He's pushing guys. His throwing is saying, 'Hey, I want to play.'" As well as Kuh pitched, however, it nearly went for naught because as soon as he was lifted for reliever Nik Gutierrez, the Lions finally got their offense in gear. They scored all three of their runs against Gutierrez in the sixth inning. He wasn't hit particularly hard. An infield hit off a high chopper and a bloop single into center field, combined with a walk loaded the bases. Nelson came to the plate and blasted a 1-0 pitch to deep left field, clearing the bases and drawing the Lions to 4-3. "He threw a mistake," Sciutto said of the pitch to Nelson. "But he came back and struck out the next two guys." Gutierrez ended up striking out the side. In the seventh, Blanton came in and mowed down the Lions, striking out the side in order to end the game.