Laguna baseball starts season with momentum

Four games into the 2008 season has revealed to first-year Laguna Beach High baseball coach Jeff Sears, that there is no quit in his team.

Laguna played four games in the Newport Elks Tournament to start its new campaign, posting a 2-2 record in the process.

In their latest outing, the Breakers rolled to an 11-1 victory over visiting Saddleback at Skipper Carrillo Field in pool-play consolation-round action.

The teams were tied 1-1 after 3 1/2 innings before Laguna exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the fourth.

An 11-hit attack featured Gabe Stansbury getting a pair of doubles in a three-for-three performance that included two RBI, Brennan Mulvaney went two for two with two doubles and three RBI, Dalton Sype continued to be productive at the play with a double and RBI, Casey Miller drove in two runs and Mike Maxsenti had a double and RBI.

Zach Nuno went the distance and struck out nine while spreading out five hits in evening his record at 1-1.

The Breakers opened the season last Friday at Irvine and dropped a 19-5 decision to the Vaqueros in a first-round tournament game.

They came back the next day, however, to score late and pull out a 4-3 win over visiting Valley Christian of Cerritos but on Monday, a late rally fell short and they dropped an 11-7 game to visiting Magnolia.

Against Magnolia Monday, Laguna found itself in a 3-0 hole through two innings.

The Sentinels pieced together a pair of hits, a walk and two Laguna errors to build that lead.

Magnolia took a 10-1 lead into the fifth where Sype hit a solo home run in the bottom-half of the inning to make it a 10-2 game.

The Sentinels got that run back in the top of the sixth but in their final at-bat, the Breakers made things interesting.

They scored five runs, keyed by doubles from Will Burk, Andrew Padden and Dillon Pierce. Magnolia’s Dom Lopez got out of the jam by recording a strikeout for the final out.

Lopez, a senior, struck out 10 in a complete-game performance.

“As for the late comeback in the Magnolia game, it shows our fight and confidence in all 15 on the team,” Sears said. “Dalton Sype played very well despite his sore shoulder. He had a solo home run and an RBI single.”

Sears said that Sype leads the team in batting with a .444 average.

Sophomore Casey Miller took the mound for his first varsity start and the freshman went the distance.

“It was a great sign for the future of this program,” Sears said in reference to Miller’s initial starting assignment.

On Saturday, Laguna posted its first win of the young season, a 4-3 decision over Valley Christian.

The Breakers got the win when freshman Chris Paul drew a walk to bring home the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Maxsenti, another young pitcher for the Breakers, got his first win.

The sophomore came on in relief in the sixth inning for starter Julian Deline and proceeded to throw two scoreless innings.

“We are still learning how to win, and once we get a good taste, we might become real good.”

Laguna travels to Montebello for a 3 p.m. game today to take on Schurr.

Following today’s game, the Breakers will host Ramona at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday and then play a doubleheader at Valley Christian on March 14.