The record-Breakers

Ryan Landry had a two-game swing recently that he soon won’t forget.

It put him in the record books.

Using a hit parade that included several homers, the Laguna Beach High baseball team came up with one of its top offensive performances of the season against Pacific Coast League foe Beckman. First, the Breakers clubbed five home runs to defeat the Patriots, 16-7, on March 30, then hit six more on March 31 in a 17-1 victory.

For his outstanding hitting performance in the two games played last week ? he went eight for nine with six home runs, a triple, double, two walks, three stolen bases, nine runs scored and nine runs driven in ? Landry was selected as the Player of the Week by the Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register, Dopf said.

Landry hit four home runs in the 17-1 win and went into the CIF-Southern Section record book, tying the mark for home runs by one player in a single game, Dopf said.

The national record for home runs in a game is five, held by five players, Dopf said.

“It was a pretty good week,” said a modest Landry, with a slight chuckle in his voice.

He said he registered the record with National High School Sports Record Book on Monday.

“It was just one of those things where I rolled out of bed and did everything right. I felt like I could hit anything,” Landry said. “What I did really didn’t sink in for me, until later that night.”

Dopf said that Landry leads the state in home runs with eight this season, and the Breakers rank second statewide as a team with 18 home runs.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Laguna Coach Dave Dopf said of Landry’s prowess at the plate. “That was the best hitting performance I have ever witnessed in my coaching career.

“The best thing about it is that the game was televised as the Cox3 ‘Game of the Week,’ and has been televised all week. I’ve watched it three or four times already, and I am still in awe.”

In the two wins over Beckman, Laguna scored 33 runs on 34 hits ? 11 of which were home runs ? and scored in every inning.

“If you win every inning, it’s impossible to lose, and that’s basically what we did,” Dopf said.

In the 17-1 win, Landry took advantage of Patriots pitching to put Laguna on the scoreboard, as he hit a solo home run to right-centerfield in the first inning. The Breakers scored two more times in the inning, as starting pitcher Kevin Kelly helped his own cause by bringing home Calvin Mead and Garrett Rauch with a two-out single.

Beckman scored its only run of the game in the bottom of the inning on a single and sacrifice fly. After that first run, Kelly (3-1) gave up just two more hits, four walks and struck out one in five complete innings.

Laguna came up with six runs in the top of the second when Trevor Pierce had a lead-off single, followed by another home run by Landry. Dominick Robusto reached base on an error, Noah Brewster singled and runners scored on a triple by Rauch to make it 9-1.

Kelly drew a bases loaded walk in the third inning to give Laguna its 10th run, and Landry continued his assault at the plate when his hit a home run in the fourth, which was his third of the game.

Brewer got into the home run act by hitting a two-run shot in the top of the fifth, which drove in Robusto who had singled.

Robusto gave Laguna one more long shot in the top of the sixth when his solo home run brought Laguna’s advantage to 15-1. Landry nearly got his fourth homer of the game, but his blast hit bounced a ball off the right field fence in the sixth inning and fell for a triple. But he would get No. 4 in the next inning.

In the seventh, Trevor Pierce hit a two-out single to bring Landry to the plate. Landry sent the second pitch he faced over the fence in right-center field which gave him four home runs in the game the day and set a CIF-SS record for home runs in a game.

In the 16-7 win over the Patriots, Beckman scored the game’s first two runs, parlaying a fielding error, two hits, a hit batter and fielder’s choice, into a 2-0 lead.

That lead stood briefly, though, as Laguna came right back to post three runs in the bottom-half of the first inning.

Lead-off hitter Landry and Mead drew walks and advanced a base on a double steal. Landry went on to score on a sacrifice fly by Robusto, who continues to produced offensively, and then Rauch followed with a two-run home run to left-centerfield.

Landry gave the Breakers two more runs in the bottom of the second by hitting a two-run homer, and Kelly delivered a long ball in the third, his two-run homer putting Laguna into a 6-2 advantage.

It became 10-0 through the bottom of the fourth, a four-run rally highlighted by an RBI single by Kelly and two-run double by sophomore Dalton Sype.

Beckman came up with three unearned runs in the top of the fifth off Laguna starter Nathan Pickett (3-1), but the Breakers matched that number by scoring three runs in the bottom of the inning. Robusto smacked a lead-off double, advanced to third on a fly ball by Rauch, and scored when Kelly reached first on a throwing error. Sype followed with the first home run of his high school career to drive in Kelly.

Landry gave Laguna one final run in the bottom of the sixth with his second solo home run of the day.

Landry’s big offensive output saw the senior finish three for three with two home runs, a double, walk, three stolen bases, four runs scored and three RBI.

Laguna reliever Spencer Harrell allowed two runs in the top of the seventh before putting the game away.

Sype finished the game three for four with a pair of doubles, a home run, two runs scored and three RBI.

“We had at least one hit from every slot in the batting order today,” Dopf said. “Whenever you can do that, you’re going to win.”

Laguna takes on league rival Corona del Mar today. The game is scheduled to be played on the Sea Kings’ home field, but field conditions due to this week’s rains could move the game to Laguna Beach, Dopf said Wednesday.cpt.07-spball-CPhotoInfo1O1PMKM020060407iw773kknDON LEACH / DAILY PILOT(LA)The Breakers’ Ryan Landry starts a double play after getting a Palm Desert base runner out at second.