Laguna (23-2, 13-0) finished off Costa Mesa 15-1 last Friday, May 6, to complete a series sweep, the ninth straight regular season victory and the second longest win streak in school history, exceeded only by the 14 game run that opened this season. The victory, the 13th for the league season, breaks the 12-win record mark set in 1963.
Chris Paul (8-1) pitched six innings striking out 13 but gave up an earned run to balloon his earned run average to 0.74 for 57 innings pitched this season. He has struck out 67 so far this season and should pitch again this week as Laguna closes out with Saddleback (3-20, 0-13).
In the Mesa contest, Larry Stewart started the floodgates against the Mustangs with an RBI single in the second inning followed by a sacrifice fly by Robbie McInerny for the second run. Austin Paxson doubled to open the third inning and it was soon 4-0 as Chris Paul hit a towering blast for a home run over the left field fence. Erik Peruzzi scored on a wild pitch for the fifth run and Larry Stewart doubled home Travis Clawson to make it 6-0.
Costa Mesa earned their only run in the bottom of the fourth inning after two outs with a pair of hits to cut the score to 6-1. Laguna added two more in the fifth inning then buried the Mustangs with six runs in the sixth inning. The last Laguna run came in the seventh inning. Breakers pounded out 15 hits with Austin Paxson, Erik Peruzzi, Larry Stewart, Alex Iannotti, and Taylor Preston having two hits each while Chris Paul went three for five to drive his season average to .500.
Chris Paul is completing his fourth varsity season with the Breakers and has completely re-written the 73-season record book with some astonishing numbers. Through last week he has appeared in 108 games, 413 plate appearances, 359 at-bats, 157 hits, 121 runs batted in, a lofty .437 career batting average. Paul has also hit 47 career doubles, good for third place on the all-time list in Southern Section CIF behind the 55 hit by Nick Schmidt of Grace Brethren in 2007-10. The Orange County record is 54 by Gerald Laird now of the St Louis Cardinals. Paul’s 157-hit career currently ranks eighth on the all-time Southern Section list.
CIF Division IV baseball pairings will be posted this Monday on the www.cifss.org web site. First round action should be at the home park next Friday, May 20, 3:15 p.m. Breakers are in a very competitive division and will face a challenge in every round of the single elimination tournament. Finals are at Dodger Stadium on June 2.
