Laguna Beach baseball rallies to beat Estancia, takes sole possession of first place in league

Laguna Beach High had surrendered just five hits through its first four Orange Coast League baseball games, all of them shutout victories.

The Breakers were in unchartered waters when Estancia jumped all over star pitcher Blake Burzell to open Thursday afternoon’s first-place showdown.

The visiting Eagles used five hits and a couple of errors to take a quick five-run advantage, but grabbing that lead and holding onto it proved to be very different propositions.

Laguna Beach cut into the deficit with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, and then surged to a 6-5 triumph with another three runs in the sixth to stay undefeated in league.

Kolton Freeman homered and Grady Morgan doubled home the tying and winning runs for Laguna Beach (9-4, 5-0 in league), ranked No. 8 in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 poll.

While Estancia ended the Breakers’ 29 scoreless innings streak, tying a Laguna Beach record set in 1997, the Eagles couldn’t stop another streak. Laguna Beach won its 22nd consecutive league game and it holds a one-game lead on Estancia (9-4, 4-1) a third of the way through the league season.

“That’s a very good team, and they put a lot of pressure on us to begin with, put balls in play,” Laguna Beach coach Jeff Sears said of the Eagles, ranked No. 8 in Division 5. “I don’t know if we were ready to play in the first inning, but we got it going late.”

The Breakers overcame five errors and a couple of hit batters, but they gave up just one hit after the first inning.

Burzell, who hadn’t given up a hit in 10 league innings coming into the game, settled down. The Arizona State-bound senior struck out six and walked one in four innings. Relievers Joe Sweet and Eric Silva worked out of difficulties borne from defensive miscues.

Estancia put seven of its first eight batters on base and brought the first five home in a mammoth first inning. Hayden Pearce reached on an error to start the game, Brian Rodriguez followed with a single to right, and Nick Mazur hit the ball up the middle, where it ricocheted off Burzell and into left field, bringing home the first run.

Jake Covey then singled off the left-field wall to load the bases and it was 2-0 when Joe Stukkie’s double-play hopper up the middle was misplayed. Justin Wood delivered an RBI single to right, another run came home on Jake Alai’s groundout, and Zander Fletcher’s single to right made it 5-0.

“It was the first time that had happened to us, where it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, when are we going to do something right?’” Sears said. “We settled down and played a little bit of baseball after that.”

Laguna Beach got its leadoff hitter on base in five of six innings, but the comeback started in the inning where that didn’t happen.

Jack Loechner singled to left-center with one out in the fourth and went to second on a passed ball, and Silva then walked. Christian Holm’s double to left got the Breakers on the scoreboard, and they got two more runs when a wild pitch was followed by another passed ball.

Mazur relieved Estancia starter Adam Aurriema in the fifth, and he got out of trouble when Fletcher threw out Jared Angus at the plate to complete an inning-ending double play.

Freeman, who made a verbal commitment this week to Dartmouth, homered to left to start the sixth for Laguna Beach. The home run came one pitch after he popped up in front of the plate, but Mazur was unable to corral the fly, and it bounced foul. Loechner and Silva followed with singles. Loechner was out at third when Nolan Smith’s sacrifice-bunt attempt went awry, but a passed ball moved the runners to second and third, and Michael Kerner was walked to load the bases.

Morgan followed with his double down the right-field line, and Silva, the Breakers’ third pitcher, worked around another error in the top of the seventh to nail down the win.

“I don’t know if it’s harder to lose a game like that or just get your butt kicked 10-0, you know?” Estancia coach Kevin Conlin said. “That’s a good ballclub. [I] just tell our guys it’s a long season. We’re just going to keep grinding and walk out of here with our heads up, because they beat us, we didn’t lose. They won, so tip your hat.”

SCOTT FRENCH is a contributor to Times Community News. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottJFrench