Laguna Beach baseball stays perfect, hangs on late at Edison
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The sun was setting, and as it got darker, the situation appeared to be getting bleaker for the Laguna Beach High baseball team.
Strikes, much less outs, were coming at a premium on the mound for the Breakers, and their once comfortable four-run lead going into Edison’s final at-bat was hanging by a thread.
With the bases loaded, Brooks Hogenauer retired the last two batters he faced, as Laguna Beach held on for a 4-3 win at Edison on Friday in a Sunset Conference crossover game.
Laguna Beach (8-0), the top-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 poll, had to work hard in the seventh inning to keep its perfect record intact.
Breakers coach Jeff Sears gave left-hander Aiden Kidd a chance to complete his start, but his hand was forced when a leadoff single by Tyler Prystajko was followed up by a walk.
Edison (4-4-1) brought up the left-handed hitting Luke DeStefano as a pinch hitter with the right-handed Nick Bonn on in relief, and he homered to right field on a full-count pitch.
The Chargers’ once fading chance to get back in the game grew brighter when Nico Brown followed with a double. After a bunt attempt by Ethan Brand resulted in a fielder’s choice, Sears made the move to bring in Hogenauer.
Back-to-back walks to begin his appearance put the tying and winning runs in scoring position, but Hogenauer got Kannon Morgan to foul out to third base for the second out. Morgan swung at a 1-0 pitch after nine of Hogenauer’s first 10 pitches had missed the strike zone.
“I’ll take Kannon Morgan at the plate with the bases loaded and the tying run at third any time,” Chargers coach Cameron Chinn said. “I’ll take that. No one is more disappointed than he is.
“He’ll just get better from that experience. It will bother him, and he’ll keep working on it until that situation comes up again. No one is going to want that situation more than he will.”
Luke Serven then sent a ground ball to third base, where Jeremy Hayes, the Breakers’ starting first baseman, fielded the ball and tagged out a runner for the final out.
“We are a bunch of moving parts,” Sears said. “We’re not one individual that is going to win. We talk about what we do team-wise, the team effort that we put in.
“We do that. Even the guys on the bench, they know that they’re a part of this, a big part of this thing.”
Kidd allowed two runs on two hits over six-plus innings. He struck out six and walked five.
Asked why his team has been able to excel in the early part of the season, Kidd said that the Breakers have shown togetherness and been able to keep things simple.
“I would say our camaraderie and ability to stay within our approach,” Kidd said of what he would attribute his team’s success to. “When we don’t try to do too much, we’re a really good team. Small ball, all that kind of stuff works out for us. If we continue to stay on that path, we’ll make a good run.”
Laguna Beach scored three runs in the fourth inning to open the scoring. Aidan Booth brought in Christian Holm with a triple to center field. Booth scored on a single by Eric Silva, and a balk allowed Will Potratz to score the Breakers’ third run.
Nolan Smith led off the top of the seventh with a bunt single for the Breakers. A one-out double by Kidd then allowed Hayes to give the Breakers a 4-0 lead with a sacrifice fly.
“I think a [Wave] League championship is a goal of ours,” Booth said. “This is our second year in the [Sunset Conference]. Last year, we didn’t come out on top.
“I think we have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder, and this year, we’re looking to compete and win a championship.”
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