Breakers headed to championship game

The Laguna Beach High baseball team is venturing where not one of its 77 predecessors had gone before: to a CIF Southern Section championship game.

In a program that fielded its first team in 1938, the 2016 Breakers own the distinction of being its only team to play its way to the final day of a season. What they endured at the outset of the year, may have made making a trip to a division final seem a distant yet, to them, anyway, a dream capable of becoming true. What they persevered through most recently - having to grind their way through two games that lasted a total of 21 innings in a five-day period within the past week, to make it to the title game, makes their journey all the more compelling.

The Breakers have earned their way to San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino Saturday by winning their latest heart-stopper, a 5-4 victory in nine innings over visiting Ventura St. Bonaventure in a division semifinal played Tuesday before a loud and supportive, standing-room-only crowd at Skipper Carrillo Field.

In their previous playoff game, the Breakers went to Rio Hondo College in Whittier May 27 to take on California, and survived the Condors to win in 12 innings, 3-2.

“These kids are just resilient,” said Mike Bair who is in his fifth year as Laguna’s head coach and has taken the program to the semifinals in two of the last three seasons. “Each game, these kids have learned how to fight. They are just really focused and are executing very well.

“We are really excited to be going to our first final. We have been working on the small things these past five years to get to this point and it’s this team, that has gotten us to a final.”

Laguna took out the No. 4-seeded team in St. Bonaventure Tuesday and now, will meet the divisions’ No. 2 seed, Fontana Kaiser, for Division 4 supremacy at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The Cats routed Almont League champion Montebello, 11-1, in Tuesday’s other division semifinal.

Laguna was playing in only its third all-time (1957, 2014, 2016) Southern Section semifinal game Tuesday, and was hosting it first final four matchup since the ’57 season. Ironically, each of its three semifinal games have been decided in nine innings. Tuesday proved that the third time was, indeed, the charm for the Breakers.

“This is beyond unbelievable,” said four-year Laguna starter Will McInerny who started the last two playoff games at catcher but closed on the mound and picked up both pitching wins. “This game [against St. Bonaventure] was a war of attrition, and it was another great team win.

“I think it’s the most incredible season. What were we, 0-6, 0-7, to open the season? The fact that we have made it the farthest of any Laguna team, is just incredible.”

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Laguna trailed St. Bonaventure, 1-0 after one inning and was sent down in order offensively by Seraphs pitcher Darius Vines (who threw the first eight innings) in the second and third innings. The Breakers finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead.

They scored three times in the fourth against a St. Bonaventure team that had allowed only two runs and owned one shutout in three previous playoff games. McInerny brought in the first two runs when his long fly ball to left field bounced off the top of the fence for a double and scored both Connor Basile (who singled to start the bottom of the fourth) and Dustin Angus (single). Jack Simon knocked in McInerney by lining a single through the left side of the infield.

The Tri-Valley League champion Seraphs (21-8) rallied immediately, answering Laguna with three runs of their own in the top of the fifth to regain the lead (4-3). The Breakers drew even in the bottom of the sixth. Jack Loechner reached base on a fielder’s choice and Cutter Clawson on an infield error before Simon, batting in the No. 9 slot, singled for the second time, a short fly that dropped into shallow center field that scored Loechner with the tying run.

In the bottom of the ninth, Laguna, with the top of its batting order heading to the plate, staged a two-out rally off St. Bonaventure reliever, left-hander Jacob Bravo, for the win.

Angus started the rally and finished off his monstrous game by delivering a double that landed just inside the foul line in the right-field corner. McInerny was intentionally walked, and Zak Kovacic drew a walk, battling back from an 0-2 count by working Bravo, to load the bases. That brought designated hitter Alex Baker to bat. The senior got ahead (2-0) on the count and walked on five pitches for the walk-off victory.

The Laguna crowd and dugout, already on their collective feet, went wild as Angus made his way from third base to home plate.

Baker, who had pivotal at-bats in the May 27 quarterfinal win at Cal Hi where he reached base in three-straight at-bats in the leadoff spot to open the seventh, 10th and 12th innings, said it was a great feeling to force in the winning run.

“I was ready when I got to the plate,” said the senior. “All of this is a dream come true, this game, going to the championship game. This has been our true goal the whole year.”

The ninth-inning double was the last for five hits for Angus. He said he took a fastball from Bravo for his final hit.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a five-for-five game,” the junior said, smiling. “I just wanted to find a way to get on base and give our guys the chance to win. That hit (double) barely was in-bounds. I’m just glad it was.”

As it did in the quarterfinal win at Cal Hi, the different pitching styles of the Laguna trio of right-handed starter Blake Burzell (five innings), left-handed reliever John Ogden, (one inning) and right-handed closer McInerny (final three innings), combined to keep St. Bonaventure off-balance.

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Tuesday’s St. Bonaventure game was a near-carbon copy of Laguna’s 12-inning May 27 triumph over Cal Hi. In that one, the Breakers gave up two runs in the bottom of the first, were sent down in order in both the second and third innings and trailed, 2-0 before finally getting things going in the top of the fourth to tie the score. Basile hit a lead-off single, Angus doubled and McInerny had a sacrifice RBI fly-out to center that scored Basile. Then, Angus hustled home from third on a nicely executed text-book bunt by Kovacic.

Both teams had their chances to score between the eighth and 11th innings, but it was Laguna which finally pushed through in the top of the 12th for the win.

Baker started the inning with a lead-off walk, was sacrificed to second by Loechner, and moved to third on Connor Coscino’s infield ground out to shortstop. With two out, Simon sent a sharp grounder to second base where the ball was mishandled, and Baker scored on the error to give the Breakers their first lead.

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Orange Coast League champion Laguna brings a 19-12 record into Saturday’s championship game. The Breakers are 19-6 since starting out the season losing their first six games. In the playoffs, they have taken out Savanna (4-2), Riverside Patriot (4-0), Cal Hi and St. Bonaventure.

Kaiser, champion of the Sunkist League, is 27-3 heading into Saturday. In the postseason, the Cats have crushed Montebello and Riverside Ramona (13-1, second round) and edged both Sonora (6-5, first round) and Santa Fe Springs Santa Fe (3-2, eight innings, quarterfinals).

The Cats are 4-0 in extra-inning games this year, each of those wins coming in eight innings.

The Laguna-Kaiser final is the first of four championship games Saturday at San Manuel Stadium. The second game is the Division 3 final (1 p.m.) between Woodbridge and Redondo Union. The Division 2 final between West Covina South Hills and Redlands East Valley follows at 4 p.m., and Studio City Harvard-Westlake and Murrieta Mesa will battle it out at 7:30 p.m. for the Division 1 title.

Two of Laguna’s nonleague opponents during the season, Woodbridge (Division 3) and Sage Hill (Division 6, 3:30 p.m., UC Riverside), are competing for CIF titles Saturday. The Breakers shut out Woodbridge, 5-0, in the Ryan Lemmon Tournament, and dropped a 4-1 nonleague game to Sage Hill, both in March. A third nonleague opponent for the Breakers, Beckman, reached the Division 3 semifinals but was eliminated (5-2) Tuesday by Redondo Union.