Following the conclusion of his final basketball season with the Burlingame Panthers, senior third baseman and starting pitcher Grant Goodman hoped to defeat the El Camino Colts on Saturday. He did just that, as the Panthers emerged with a 2-1 victory thanks in large part to his efforts on the mound.
In the first inning Goodman surrendered a double to El Camino (2-7) senior catcher Evan Giacomino. However, he bounced back and retired the next two batters to end the top of half of the inning.
During the bottom of the first, Goodman reached first on an error. With two out and runners on first and second, senior first baseman Andrew Brunicardi hit a single to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.
Goodman struggled to find the strike zone in the second inning. Despite a pair of walks, El Camino remained scoreless through two innings.
In the third, Goodman surrendered two more walks to put the runners on first and third with one man out. Colts second-baseman Dominic Giuliani hit a sacrifice fly to right field to tie the game 1-1.
As the Panthers went up to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning, they desperately needed a run. With a triple by senior outfielder Jian Lee, Burlingame appeared to be in good shape. After El Camino starting pitcher Josh Eclavea yielded a walk, he was forced to pitch to senior center fielder Michael Franco. Franco hit a dribbler to first base that brought in the go-ahead run.
Goodman was lights-out in the fifth and sixth inning. Besides a four-pitch walk and a Burlingame error, he retired all of the batters that he had faced in those innings.
“It feels good to be back [from basketball],” Goodman said. “I needed to get back to my rhythm.”
In the top of the seventh, Burlingame coach Shawn Scott replaced Goodman on the mound with Vince Arobio.
Arobio was at the top of his game after striking out two El Camino players on six pitches. After a single hit by El Camino senior shortstop Steve Pastora, Arobio faced Giacomino. On a 3-2 count, Arobio threw a powerful fastball past the El Camino batter to end the game.
Because of the marvelous Burlingame pitching and dynamite hitting by Jian Lee, the Panthers won 2-1. Despite giving up a pair of hits and five walks, Goodman struck out seven players and held the Colts to one run.
“They’re [Arobio and Goodman] pretty good at what they do,” said Scott, who also said would like to see fewer runners stranded on the base paths.
With this win, the Panthers improve their record to 7-1. According to some of their players their success is largely due to their coach.
“[Scott] does a really good job of communicating with his players,” Arobio said. “We all listen to what he says.”
The Panthers hope to extend their win streak to four games as they travel to Menlo-Atherton on Wednesday to take on the Bears. El Camino hosts Jefferson today in its league opener.
