Davin Burroughs fielded the question as slickly as he would a routine grounder.
Is his unique first name a combination of, say, David and Gavin? Or Davis and Kevin?
Nothing so complicated.
“My mom knew someone with that name and liked it,” explained the Santana High junior on the last day of school before the Grossmont Union High School District dismissed all school personnel until at least April 10 in response to the Coronavirus outbreak.
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His mom and the other Sultan baseball fans are also liking Santana’s surprising 6-1 start to the season that everyone hopes will pick up with Grossmont Hills League play when they return.
Santana was not considered among the section’s elite when the season started but two wins against highly-rated Cathedral Catholic changed all that as the Sultans jumped into the Union-Tribune Top 10 at No. 6 last week.
“I expected it because I know how hard everyone on this team has worked to get here,” said the 16-year-old junior. “Coach (Rigo Ledezma) pushes us to be as good as we can. Everyone doubted us but after we beat Cathedral Catholic, we became the target.
“It’s an awesome feeling to beat a higher seed, a ranked team.”
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As is often the case, it took a loss –in this case to Bonita Vista the second game of the season — to get the Sultans untracked.
“They came out yelling and all fired up and we — well, we weren’t,” he said of the 7-2 setback in the opening game of the Hilltop-Lolitas Tournament the Sultans would go on to win with a 6-1 victory over Cathedral Catholic.
“They were ready. You could just see the difference. After that, we had a changed attitude and energy. You can see the energy now, it’s completely different. Now we’re the team that’s ready because we always practice and play hard. Sometimes we practice for four hours and that’s after practicing together before that.
“This is my third team at Santana, and this is the first one where everyone is working together to make us better. We are one and the key is our defense.”
Burroughs leads the way.
He and sophomore second baseman Elijah Reber are perfect in the field, neither having made an error all season. Obviously, it’s a polished double-play combination.
“Prior to this year, Davin’s defensive ability kept him on the field,” said Ledezma. “He makes it look easy.
“Before, he was our No.9 hitter, but now he’s in the No. 2 spot.”
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Burroughs, who bats from the left side but is right-handed in the field, is hitting an even .300 with six hits in 20 at-bats. That includes a pair of doubles, three RBI and four runs scored. He has a .417 on-base percentage.
Not bad for an all-league soccer player.
“I grew up liking soccer and basketball equally,” said Burroughs. “I was an academy soccer player, so I wasn’t allowed to play for Santana. I decided to give up the academy to play baseball, which allowed me to play high school soccer. I’ve done that my while life—I’d play basketball, soccer, football and baseball, sometimes four different games a day.
“I never got tired of baseball, though, I could play it all day. My favorite play is to dive up the middle, get up, spin and throw to first.
“The best time of the day for me is at the baseball field. I go to the gym at 5 a.m., school after that, have lunch with my teammates and then baseball. It’s the same every day. The best friendships I have are with my teammates—that’s what makes baseball special, you get so close to your teammates.”
Burroughs says the team is so close he’s pretty sure during the break they’ll meet at a local eatery like they always do and then go to the batting cages as a group, even though he says he much prefers to hit live pitching at practice.
He expects the guys to get together to toss the ball around to maintain that edge, even though the coaches are not permitted.
“We’ll get out in the street if we have to,” said Burroughs, who this winter has had Padres players Greg Garcia and Austin Hedges come around to liven up practices and proudly admits Fernando Tatis Jr. is his favorite player.
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“I don’t think the delay is going to affect us—we’ll be ready to go whenever they tell us.”
Steve Brand is a freelance writer.
2020-03-17 01:22:15Z
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/high-school-preps/story/2020-03-16/soccer-player-has-great-hands-on-the-diamond
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