By Declan Chin
Staff Writer
The baseball team has struggled with translating preseason potential to league results all season. After a 7-5 loss to San Marino on Wednesday, May 26, the Tigers have fallen to a record of 0-9.
South Pasadena showed signs of struggling from the beginning. Pitching was junior Kevin Park, who walked a batter in the first. Then, back-to-back errors from the Tiger defense left a the San Marino runner on third. The Titans claimed the lead with a single to put them up 1-0.
The Tigers came back in the bottom of the second with a double by Park. Sophomore Isaac Luevano continued the rally with a single. After a passed ball from the Titan pitcher, South Pas had two runners in scoring position. With two outs, the San Marino defense made a critical error off a seemingly easy out which cost them two runs and another baserunner on first. Later in the inning senior Matthew Shults hit a ball straight to the second basemen, but another error scored the third run for the Tigers, giving them a 3-1 lead.
But in the top of the second, South Pasadena’s defense could not improve on their defensive mistakes in the first. San Marino immediately retaliated with four runs, three of which came from errors. Then in the third San Marino scored one more run off yet another Tiger error.
When it was the Tigers turn up in the fifth, senior Brandon Louie delivered with a line drive double to score two runs. The score was 6-5.
In the seventh inning, the Titans extended their lead with an RBI single. Even with runners on second and third in the last inning of the game, South Pas failed to obtain any more runs and the game finished 7-5.
Baseball has three games remaining in the season, the next being a rematch against San Marino away. With the defensive performance displayed, the team has a clear indicator for areas of improvement going into the latter half of the season, and hopes to finish it strong.
