Breakers Rally to Defeat El Segundo, 2-1

After 5 ½ innings Tuesday afternoon, it appeared Laguna Beach's baseball team was about to be bounced from the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs in the second round, the Breakers' 12-game winning streak ready to be snapped.

But heads-up base-running, one clutch hit by senior catcher and cleanup batter Erik Peruzzi, seven marvelous innings on the mound by Keaton Jones and a little luck changed all that for the Breakers (27-2), who rallied for a 2-1 victory over El Segundo at Laguna Beach High.

The fourth-seeded Breakers will play at Oaks Christian, a 3-2 winner over Savanna, in the quarterfinals on Friday. Game time is scheduled for 3:15 p.m.

In the bottom of the sixth inning Tuesday, Peruzzi turned on a low curve thrown by El Segundo starting pitcher Nigel Nootbaar that caught just enough of the plate for Peruzzi to drive it into shallow left field. Austin Paxson scored the tying run from third base and Chris Paul scored the go-ahead run from second.

Peruzzi had atoned for the fact that he struck out in his first two at-bats.

“He did a great job,” said fourth-year Laguna Beach coach Jeff Sears, who was the hitting coach at Chapman University five years ago. “When you keep your hands back, you can do a lot in baseball.”

The runs may not have scored if it hadn't been for an error on a doubleplay grounder hit by Paul to third baseman David Bell of the Eagles, who finished their season at 19-13. Bell appeared to rush his throw to second base and the ball sailed wide to the left of second baseman Trent Miera. Paxson, who led off the inning with a single, hustled and beat the throw to third on a head-first slide. Paul later stole second base.

“Austin’s probably one of the headier guys on the field,” Sears said. “He’s like our coach on the field.”

Peruzzi followed with his big single.

“I was looking for my pitch,” he said. “I kept my hands back, because he caught me out in front in the first two at-bats.… Keaton kept pumping strikes in there.”

Jones had little trouble the entire way, and could have been a hard-luck loser if it weren’t for Peruzzi’s hit. In the top of the sixth, he allowed a two-out single by Nootbaar that scored Seth McKenna, who had reached on a single.

El Segundo threatened once more in the top of the seventh. Zac Stone and Miera followed each other with back-to-back singles. McKenna hit a solid shot, but second baseman Robbie McInerry climbed the ladder to make a leaping grab to end the game.

Jones (7-0) allowed seven hits, struck out 10 and walked none. He opened the game by striking out eight out of his first 14 batters he faced, mainly dealing slow curves that kept the Eagles' hitters off balance.

“I was just competing out there,” he said. “We like to switch it up. Me and ‘Puzzi, we work together well. When we don’t think about it too much, we’re pretty good. I stayed within myself [in the seventh]. I trust my defense. I wanted to pitch to contact.”

Laguna Beach also came back to win its first-round game over Indio, 5-2, on Thursday.

“It’s a beautiful trait to have,” Sears said. “Keaton dominated with his fastball. The CIF wants to go to double-elimination next year. This excitement you see here doesn’t happen if that were to happen this year. I don’t like the idea. I think it’s a slap in the face of teams like [last year’s Division I champion] Dana Hills, who got in as a wild card.”

Yes, coach, a knack for comebacks is nice to have.