Baseball: Laguna’s season comes to end
The Laguna Beach High baseball team took the long road to Apple Valley for its second-round game of the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs, and their game against Granite Hills marked the end of the road for the Breakers’ season’s journey.
Seventh-ranked Laguna was eliminated from postseason play by the Cougars, who used an early lead to pull out to a 14-7 victory.
The Breakers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Granite Hills scored the tying run in the bottom of the first before taking control with an eight-run second inning that gave the Cougars a 9-1 lead. The Breakers got to within 9-3 in the top of the fourth but the Cougars responded with four more runs in the bottom half of the frame to extend their lead to 13-3.
Laguna, champion of the Orange Coast League, completed a 20-7 season.
Granite Hills, the No. 2 team from the Desert Sky League, advanced to face second-seeded South Torrance, last year’s runner-up to the Division 4 title, in a quarterfinal game Friday.
The Cougars (18-7) have scored 25 runs in their first two playoff games. They defeated Burroughs/Ridgecrest, 11-3, in their opener May 21.
Their win, their fifth straight, put an end to Laguna’s 10-game winning streak.
“They were a solid team and played well,” Laguna Coach Mike Bair said of Granite Hills. “Not only that, but every ball bounced their way, every hit seemed to find a hole somewhere. We, on the other hand, hit the ball well, but right at their guys. We competed pretty well but things didn’t go our way that day.”
Laguna managed six hits, with sophomore Dante Faicchio going two for three with a walk, RBI and run scored. Freshman Blake Burzell singled with an RBI, senior Anthony Norelli doubled and scored, junior Zak Kovacic singled and scored, and senior Cole Coscino singled. Senior Callan Cochran walked twice and had an RBI, junior Alex Baker walked and had an RBI,
Laguna’s start to postseason play couldn’t have turned out better. On May 22, the Breakers hosted Colton (Sunkist League No. 3) and routed the Yellowjackets, 20-0. They racked up 19 hits and 19 RBIs and drew eight walks in winning their 20th game.
Coscino went three for three with a walk, drove in four runs and scored twice. Cochran doubled twice among three hits, walked, had three RBIs and scored twice.
Faicchio went three for four with two RBIs and three runs, Norelli (double, two walks, four runs) and freshman Jeff Bruyntjens (three runs) both had two hits and two RBIs, senior Jake Smith went two for three with a walk and scored three runs, Kovacic singled, walked three times and brought in four runs, Baker and sophomore Ashton Goddard both singled and had an RBI, and junior Will McInerny had a pinch-hit single.
It was McInerny’s first return to the Laguna lineup since breaking the pinkie on his throwing hand in an April 17 league game against Costa Mesa.
Five Breakers pitched with Burzell getting the win.
“We’re sad to see the season end but we realize we still did great things this year,” Bair said. “This team bonded well and accomplished a lot.”
Twitter: @MikeSciacca