Baseball: Apaches Stay Perfect With Win Over Pasadena High's Bulldogs

Game by game, the Arcadia Express keeps chugging along. Blowing past one Pacific League foe after another, eyes set on a second straight undefeated season in league play.

On Wednesday afternoon, Pasadena was the latest squad to fall to the Apaches, as the Bulldogs’ momentum from a big win over Burbank the day before was no match for senior pitcher KJ Edson and a persistent Apaches lineup.

The Apaches touched up Pasadena starter Ives Brown for three runs in the first inning, which was more than enough support for Edson, who gave up just one hit in six shutout innings en route to a 6-0 win.

“We had a big win yesterday and going up against the best team in the Pacific League — going up against the best team in the area — and you’ve got a tough pitcher to beat,” Pasadena coach Mike Parisi said. “We gotta play mistake free and compete; and they are a much better team than we are.”

Arcadia now sits at 11-0 in the Pacific League, just three games from posting another 14-0 campaign. The Apaches became the first team in Pacific League history to not drop a single league game last season.

“They know they're unbeaten right now,” Arcadia coach Nick Lemas. “But our biggest thing is (Crescenta Valley) is behind us with one loss.”

Having the one-loss Falcons right behind them in the standings certainly provides incentive for another undefeated season. And if the Apaches continue to execute on both sides the way they did against the Bulldogs, it’s hard to envision them suffering a setback in their last three games of the season.

After the Bulldogs gifted the Apaches (20-3, 11-0 in the PL) two runners via a throwing error and a hit batter in the first, Brendan Campbell, Erik Trask and George Papavasilliou strung together three straight RBI singles to take a commanding 3-0 lead.

"That's huge especially for a guy on the mound like KJ to be pitching with the lead,” Lemas said. “He's confident with himself whether it's 0-0 or 3-0. But it's obviously a lot more relaxing if you have a bit of a cushion. When he does have a cushion he knows how to pitch.” 

That was evident as Edson only allowed two runners on base (neither via a hit) in his final five innings on the mound. The Bulldogs’ one hit came in the first on a single from senior Chris Rucker.

This wasn’t the first time Pasadena has struggled against Edson. The Apache senior pitched a shutout at PHS on April 26.

The Bulldogs also didn’t fare well against another Pacific League ace, Crescenta Valley’s Elliott Surrey beat them with a one-hit shutout in April. But for Parisi, Edson is the league’s top hurler.

“Right now it’s definitely KJ,” Parisi said. “I’d like to see them go up against each other a week from now. He’s the senior. He’s the one who’s been unhittable for two years straight.”

Pasadena (15-8-1, 7-4) was burned by another mistake at the start of the fourth when a fielding error by the Bulldogs third baseman allowed Drew Klein to reach first. One batter later, Campbell ripped a double to deep left for his second RBI of the game as the Apaches extended their lead to 4-0.

The early barrage of runs seemed to sap the Bulldogs of their mojo gained from Tuesday’s win over Burbank.

“I think we had some guys who may have let up at times and didn’t compete the whole seven innings, which is a shame because we’re pretty good at doing that,” Parisi said. “So that’s a reflection on me.”

Lemas said that he thought the Bulldogs hung in there despite the unfriendly combination of a quick hole and Edson on the mound. But he did acknowledge that those two factors compounded upon each other could unsettle a team.

“Three runs in the first inning — the way we were swinging it — would demoralize a team. It would demoralize me,” Lemas said. “You still have to keep fighting, and I think they kept fighting. We had to keep tacking on runs, by the last inning it felt pretty comfortable where we were at.”