Tartans Win Baseline League After Finishing Off Upland 17-12

The Glendora Tartans baseball team took one giant step this week towards defending their CIF championship by taking both games from league rivals Upland 7-4 on Wednesday and 17-12 on Friday. With Friday’s win the Tartans secured another Baseline League title, having already locked up a first seed in post-season play.

“I’m really happy for them. They had a target on their backs all year, and we realized that with the year that we had last year,” said Glendora coach Dan Henley.

If it seemed as though Friday the 13th would be unlucky enough for Glendora (17-6-1, 12-3) after the visiting Highlanders (14-10, 5-10) took a 3-0 lead after one inning of play on three hits including a homerun, neither starting sophomore pitcher Scott Burke, nor his teammates seemed to let it affect their game plan.

Glendora responded in the bottom of the first with 2 runs on 3 hits, including a two-out RBI single by senior Aaron Miller which narrowed the gap to 3-2.  After Upland took a 4-2 lead in the second, the Tartans answered back in their half of the inning on  Nick Cooksey’s two-out homerun to center which tied the game 4-4.

Fielding errors by Upland led to more Glendora runs and the Tartans got three more hits to take a 7-4 lead in the third frame, the most damaging being junior Donovan  Holmes’ ground hit to center which scored two runs off Upland starter Jayson Roberts.

After the Highlanders retook the lead 9-7, Glendora erupted for a 10 run 5th inning on 10 hits off Upland relief pitcher Michael Long and practically put the game away as they climbed to a 17-9 advantage.

The inning featured multiple doubles and a triple by the Tartans before the final out was recorded.

Though Upland benefited from a one out two-run homer off Glendora relief pitching and closed the gap 17-12 after a sacrifice fly scored one more run in the top of the 6th inning, that’s as close as they got at catching the victorious Tartans.

The Tartans exhibited Friday the same come from behind spirit they have shown all season.

 “As the season progressed and we took our lumps early on, the kids learned from those things, it was really satisfying to see them compete every game and certainly not give up during the course of games,” said Henley after Friday’s final which marked Glendora’s fourth straight win since losing a close game to Rancho Cucamonga late last month.

As the team heads into the CIF post-season, Henley had a message for his group.

“Enjoy what we’ve done and get ready for the next journey, playoffs are a great time and if you can make a run, it’s a whole lot of fun. You never know when you’re gonna get another chance and you want it to feel good for as long as you can.”