The week of April 3, varsity baseball faced off against Carlmont two times, losing 6-4 in the first meeting and winning 5-0 in the second game. 

The first meeting on Wednesday, April 5 saw both teams trading offensive blows throughout, but the Panthers’ defense struggled to keep up. 

“Personally, I’m not extremely satisfied with my performance defensively,” junior shortstop Eric Gee said. Gee, a former St. Ignatius student, was shaking off some rust in his first appearance after sitting out the first half of the season due to transfer rules,

However, it wasn’t just Gee — sloppiness was a common theme against Carlmont, and the team finished with seven errors.

After a fast start with two runs from Carlmont and one from Burlingame in the first two innings, the middle of Burlingame’s order was up to bat. In the fourth inning, junior designated hitter Will Robbins hit a deep double to left-center field. The Carlmont pitcher, shaken up from the hit, spiked his next pitch, allowing Robbins to steal third. Another ball past the catcher let Robbins sprint home, bringing the score to 3-2 in favor of the Scots at the top of the fourth inning.

On the pitcher’s mound, junior pitcher Luca Scatena remained rock-solid for the Panthers in the bottom half of the inning. But the team’s defensive struggles reemerged, as senior right fielder Aidan Alfers overran a ground ball in the shallow outfield grass, allowing a Carlmont to bring their lead to 4-2 in the next at-bat.

The Scots had their own defensive blunders too, however, and both teams traded small blows until the sixth inning.

With just four more outs needed for Carlmont to close out the game, junior left fielder Dylan Philibosian stepped up to the plate with a man on second and tied the game with a two-run shot over the left field fence. Suddenly, Burlingame had a chance to come out with a win in the ensuing inning. But another pair of Carlmont runs cut off any Panther momentum.

With one last chance to pull off a comeback win in the seventh, senior catcher Charlie Happ opened up the final-inning rally with a single, and pinch-hitting junior Dylan Kall reached base to put the tying runs in play. Speedy leadoff hitter Noah Greenblatt moved both runners into scoring position with a bunt. And now with one out, Eric Gee had the chance to put the Panthers back into winning position. But after the umpire granted the Carlmont pitcher a strike on a checked swing, Gee struck out and a pop-up from junior second baseman Jackson Howard in the next at bat ended the game.

In an all around sloppy performance that brought their league record to 0-2, the Panthers were more than motivated to pick up a win in the second game of the series. But Burlingame came back, dominating in round two at home on Friday, April 7, winning 5-0.

Driven by a highly efficient start from senior pitcher Holden Glavin — only allowing three hits, zero runs — Burlingame’s offense came alive, tallying 8 hits on the night.

“Holden [Glavin] and [Tyler] Lachance pitched a great game which gave us a lot of momentum,” Alfers said. “We finally played together as a team.”

Since then the Panthers have not slowed down, going on a six-game win streak and slingshotting into second place in PAL Bay standings.