Breakers hit skids

LA PALMA — The brisk winds made some fly balls tough to gauge Wednesday at Kennedy High.

The home-plate umpire’s calls made the Laguna Beach High baseball team red with anger.

But in the end, the Breakers couldn’t really blame anyone but themselves after they lost to host Kennedy, 7-6, in six innings, in their final game at the Anaheim Lions Tournament.

It was the fourth straight loss of the tournament for Laguna Beach (9-10).

“The calls kind of threw us off our game, but that shouldn’t have been the deciding factor,” said senior Dillon Pierce, who had an RBI double and two stolen bases. “We didn’t execute in certain situations. You can’t put the game on the umpires; we’ve got to execute.”

Two calls in particular rubbed Coach Jeff Sears the wrong way. In the bottom of the third, a Kennedy batter swung at a pitch in the dirt in a hit-and-run situation. The home-plate umpire missed it, however, and called the pitch a ball.

Then, in the top of the fourth, the umpire called batter’s interference on Laguna’s Chris Paul, negating a steal attempt by Pierce.

Sears argued vehemently, was tossed from the game and was then physically confronted by a Kennedy fan while leaving the field. The fan also left the game after that.

Later, in the fifth, it was a ball hit by Kennedy along the third-base line that appeared to roll foul. The umpire called it fair, which got the goat of Breakers assistant coach Scott Zine.

“You’ve got to fight back at some point,” said senior catcher Gabe Stansbury, who hit a first-inning home run and scored twice. “You can’t just sit back and let that happen. [Sears] got overheated, as a lot of us did, but he was just the one who got reprimanded for that.”

Paul also homered for the Breakers, while junior Mike Maxsenti was three for four with two runs batted in. Laguna Beach was ahead, 5-3, but Kennedy scored four times in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead for good.

The game was called after six innings due to a time limit.

It was the second straight one-run loss in the tournament for Laguna Beach, which gave up three runs in the last of the seventh to fall to Lompoc, 3-2, Tuesday.

“[Pitcher] Casey [Miller] dominated the game for six innings and the wheels fell off,” Sears said. “We gave up four consecutive hits.”

The Breakers also been battling the injury bug.

Sophomore Austin Paxson may be out for the season after suffering a left knee injury during the team’s 2-1 win over Calvary Chapel on April 9.

“That’s a big injury,” Sears said. “He doesn’t need surgery. He started therapy [Tuesday] to hopefully be back by the end of the season.”

Junior catcher Spencer Freidenrich, who broke his finger in an earlier loss to Costa Mesa, is likely out for the season.

In earlier action in the Anaheim Lions Tournament, Laguna opened it Saturday with a 7-5 win over Valley Christian. Senior Andrew Paddon got the win, and senior Jake Sganga — who missed later games in the tournament due to college visits — was two for four with a run scored. Stevie Contursi added a hit and two RBIs.

Laguna Beach then fell later Saturday, 7-2, to Loara and lost to Chaminade, 13-3, Monday.

The Breakers, who sit alone in second place in the Orange Coast League with a 4-2 record, will try to get back on the winning track when they play Tuesday at Godinez.

“We played a lot of really tough teams this tournament,” Maxsenti said. “We did a good job battling against the good teams. If we can just get our pitchers back out there throwing strikes, battling a little harder out there on the mound, I think we’ll have more opportunities to win games.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.