Baseball: Arcadia feeling pressure in the Pacific League.

"There's pressure to win games because we don't score any runs, It would be nice to get a base hit to score some runs." -- Arcadia coach Nick Lemas after the Apaches' 2-0 win over Pasadena.

Above: Aggressive base running isn't a problem, as Arcadia's Drew Klein is tagged out at home in the second inning against Monrovia earlier this year, but key base hits are becoming far and few in between.

Arcadia's 25th consecutive Pacific League victory wasn't easy. Pasadena made it tough, to the point that the Apaches' two runs in their 2-0 win came on sacrifice flies. As our Keith Lair wrote, Arcadia has to find imaginative ways to manufacture runs, and they did Tuesday. A while back I subtlety wrote in a headline that KJ Edson is doing his job, but that a little more run support would make things easier. Almost immediately a fellow by the screen name of "Broken Arrow" added his two cents: "(L)ast time I checked, all you need is one more run than the other guy so a lack of run production is moot as long as they pitch and play catch."

As I pointed out, he obviously missed the point. My point was that if Arcadia (17-3, 8-0) was hitting the ball as well as its pitching rotation was producing, the Apaches would probably be running away with the Pacific League with much more authority. At this point, Crescenta Valley (18-2, 7-1) must like its chances with another shot at Arcadia when they meet May 13 under the lights at Arcadia.

We don't know what Crescenta Valley is batting as a team because they dont' post their stats on MaxPreps. To Arcadia's credit, it does. The Apaches, as a team, are batting .287 with a slugging percentage of .358. By contrast, Temple City, the first place team out of the Rio Hondo League, is batting .339 with a .431 slugging percentage.

Pundits will say the Pacific League is arguably tougher competition and the Apaches have faced tougher competition. Not necessarily. Temple City played some tough competition in the Apache Invitational, playing the likes of San Dimas and Glendora. Arcadia beat Temple City 4-3 in that tournament and Temple City beat Pasadena, 7-1.

In the Pacific League, Arcadia has won four of its eight games by two runs or fewer. By contrast, Crescenta Valley has won each of its league games with blow out wins, with the exception of a 3-1 win over Burbank. The Falcons lost to Arcadia, 2-0 4-2.

Nevertheless, you have to give credit where credit is due, and the Apaches are in a position to finish league undefeated for a second consecutive season. Arcadia last year became the only school Pacific League history to finish league undefeated.

But after Tuesday's game, it's apparent that run production is becoming an issue.