Laguna Beach baseball makes history

San Bernardino - Mike Bair has said the Laguna Beach High baseball program abides by four pillars of instruction: play ball, throw strikes, play catch and run the bases well.

The fifth-year head coach of the Breakers also has emphasized the importance of winning every pitch, every out, every inning.

On a hot Saturday morning at San Manuel Stadium, the Breakers did all that and more, and soaked in every glorious moment along the way.

Laguna scored a monumental victory for the program and school by winning the CIF Southern Section Division 4 championship in its first-ever trip to a section final. The Breakers did so by shutting out second-seeded Fontana Kaiser, 2-0, in a game they controlled much of the way.

The Breakers scored in the bottom of the first inning and added their final run on a spectacular steal of home plate by senior Zak Kovacic in the fifth, to take down Sunkist League champion Kaiser which had won 27 of 30 games entering Saturday’s title tilt.

“What a feeling,” Bair said after the Breakers had celebrated their milestone victory. “I can’t say enough about these kids.”

One of those players he couldn’t say enough about, was his pitcher, Ashton Goddard.

The 6-foot-3 junior right-hander started ominously by beaning Kaiser lead-off hitter Oscar Rocha on the game’s first pitch. He also had a throwing error to first base after fielding a tough grounder back to the mound in the fifth, which gave the Cats the tying run at second base to open the inning. In each instance, as well as another threat in the second inning, he and the Breakers defense worked their way out of jams.

Kaiser had runners in scoring position in the first, second and fifth innings, yet failed to score for only the second time this year.

Goddard (5-2) threw a five-hitter, walked two and struck out four in a complete-game victory.

“He pretty much shut down their hitters all game, and got stronger as the game went on,” Bair said. “He was supposed to start our semifinal game [Tuesday against St. Bonaventure] but he had some [sore] arm issues. He was outstanding.”

Kaiser Coach Mike Spinuzzi agreed.

“That kid did a great job,” he said of Goddard. “He changed speeds on us and pitched a great game. We had tight at-bats but all the credit to Laguna Beach. They won the championship.”

After advancing to the championship game by outlasting California of Whittier in a 12-inning quarterfinal game May 27, and then St. Bonaventure in a nine-inning semifinal game Tuesday, the Breakers finished off Kaiser in just 1 hour, 20 minutes in the division final.

They had to rally to win in both of those games, and it looked as though they might have to play from behind again early Saturday.

After beaning Rocha to start the game, Goddard gave up a single to Jason Lopez and a one-out walk to clean-up hitter Jacob Gonzalez which loaded the bases. He got left-handed hitter Alex Martinez to ground out to the mound, and then struck out designated hitter Carlos Sernas to get out cleanly.

“We had our chance to jump all over them in the first inning,” Spinuzzi said. “We’ve been doing that all year.”

Connor Basile got the Laguna offense going in the bottom of the first by singling up the middle with one out. Dustin Angus then continued his hot hitting streak - he went five for five in Tuesday’s 5-4 semifinal win over St. Bonaventure, by lacing a grounder over the third-base bag and into left field for a double that sent Basile to third.

Basile scored moments later when Will McInerny hit a grounder on the infield grass in front of shortstop. Rocha charged the ball cleanly but his throw was late to the plate in an attempt to get Basile.

Goddard retired the Cats (27-4) in the second and third innings but faced another challenge in the top of the fifth.

Hubert Mann led off the inning with a high grounder to the mound. Goddard went high for the ball which went off the tip of his glove and landed on the grass toward the third-base line. He recovered to throw to first where Mann was safe, but his throw went high and out of bounds. Mann went to second on the miscue, and the Cats again were in position to score.

Goddard, though, recovered to strikeout Rocha. Mann went to third on a fielder’s choice ground out, and Goddard walked Justin Wells to put runners at the corners. Then, the big defensive play of the game for the Breakers happened next.

With Gonzalez at the plate and facing an 0-2 pitch, Goddard’s pitch was high. Before McInerny - who caught the entire game for Laguna, threw back to the mound, Mann broke for home on an attempted steal. McInerny ran Mann back toward third and threw to third baseman Dante Faicchio. Mann stumbled and Faicchio put the tag down for a huge out that ended the threat and protected the lead.

“We do that [steal home attempt] a lot,” Spinuzzi said. “[Mann] was supposed to wait until the catcher [McInerny] threw back to the mound.”

Laguna also took a chance at home plate in the bottom of the fifth, and it paid off handsomely.

Kovacic drew a lead-off walk, was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Alex Baker and to third on a ground out to second by Jack Loechner in his only at-bat of the game. With Jack Simon at the plate, Kovacic broke for home, catching Kaiser pitcher Armando Duenas and the rest of the Cats off-guard. Duenas reacted late and his throw to home also was late as Kovacic slid head-first over the plate.

“I noticed that their third baseman [Gonzalez] was pretty deep, and I took off,” Kovacic said. “They were slow in reacting and I got a good jump.”

When Kovacic scored, the Laguna dugout went into a frenzy.

Bair, coaching third base, said he gave the steal sign to the senior.

“We’ve practiced that every single day this week,” he said. “Every single guy practiced it. Zak did it perfectly, executed it perfectly.”

Goddard went on to face only seven batters over the final two innings. He put the first two Kaiser batters down in the sixth on fly-outs to the outfield but gave up a single to Sernas. He then got Juan Barriga to ground out to the mound for third out.

He only threw nine pitches and retired the Cats in order in the top of the seventh. After an infield ground out ended the game, the Laguna players and coaches erupted onto the infield grass and staged an unabashed dog pile.

Like the steal of home by Kovacic, Bair said his team has rehearsed the art of the dog pile, as well.

“We practiced a dog pile last year,” he said with a laugh. “We practiced it back in September.”

Laguna, which began the season 0-6, ends it as a first-time CIF champion. The Orange Coast League champion Breakers finished the year 20-12.

In 78 years of baseball, Laguna finally had a championship plaque.

“It’s pretty overwhelming,” Bair said. “On the other hand, we never had that moment of where, this all was so surreal. We played with a lot of focus and energy, and the kids just went out there today very business-like. They have a lot to be proud of in what they accomplished.”