By Jason KUROSU

The Crescenta Valley Boys’ Varsity Baseball Team had won the Pacific League Championship for seven straight seasons before being unseated by the Arcadia Apaches, who were the back to back champions entering the 2011 season. This season provided the closest chance that the Falcons have had in the past three seasons to regain their title, needing only to win the last game of the season against Arcadia to tie them for the league title. But they came up just short to Arcadia again and were later eliminated from the CIF playoffs by Notre Dame.

Despite that, the team experienced a lot of success, winning 14 games in a row at one point, winning the Babe Herman Tournament in April and finishing with a 23-5 record overall.

Six seniors will leave the team (Bogart Avila, Andrew Fagundo, Keegan Farias, Michael Lim, Tyler Pollak and Kyle Pomeroy). Remaining are certainly many promising players, including juniors Kyle Murray, Cam Silva and Babe Herman Tournament MVP Elliot Surrey, who will be a senior next season.

“He’s such a hard-working kid, humble kid,” Head Coach Phil Torres said of Surrey after a win against Burbank High last month.

The coming season will likely provide another exciting Pacific League race between Crescenta Valley and Arcadia. The Apaches have been dominant in the Pacific League over the last three seasons, ranking 65 statewide last season (compared to CV’s 200 ranking) and were one of the final four teams in the Division 2 playoff bracket. But the Falcons have inched closer to Arcadia in the standings in each of the last three seasons, and with nine Arcadia players leaving due to graduation, including the hard throwing pitcher Kj Edson among others, the Falcons’ window of opportunity is opening up.

  CVHS BASEBALL, Jason Kurosu, JUNE 23, Sports