Laguna Beach baseball sees remarkable season draw to a close against Norco
One swing certainly does not change that.
That one swing, a fifth-inning grand slam by Norco sophomore Dylan Seward, was still enough to lift the visiting Cougars to a 4-2 win over the host Breakers on Tuesday afternoon in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.
Norco moved on to host its Big VIII League rival, top-seeded defending Division 1 champion Corona, in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Laguna Beach, competing in the top postseason division for the first time, finished its season 25-4 after falling to the No. 7-ranked team in the state of California by Maxpreps.com.
The Breakers, who earned an impressive win at Summit in the first round of the Division 1 playoffs, certainly proved that they belonged there.
'We had a team that could compete with anybody,' first-year Laguna Beach head coach Ryan Belanto said. 'I thought we had four or five arms that I trusted every single time out … We were where we were supposed to be, in Division 1. We were able to beat another top 10 team in CIF in the first round, and there's no easy draws. You've got to be perfect for five straight games to win this thing.'
Breakers senior right-handed pitcher Thomas Gonzales, a transfer from JSerra, drew the start on the bump Tuesday. He struck out seven Norco batters in 4 ⅔ innings, running into adversity in the fifth inning of what was a tie game.
With one out, Norco's Wyatt Fiedler and Elijah Alvarez were both hit by pitches. Gonzales recovered to strikeout leadoff hitter Marcus Blanton, but Zion Martinez drew a full-count walk to load the bases.
Seward then unloaded them, launching a 2-and-0 changeup over the fence in right-center field, just to the right of the scoreboard at Skipper Carrillo Field. It was his fifth home run of the year for the Cougars (22-8).
'We started off a little bit slow swinging the bat this year, and we've just been getting better and better,' Norco coach Gary Parcell said. 'Dylan is going to be a big-time player, no doubt about it.'
Laguna Beach tried to rally against Norco junior left-handed pitcher Landon Hovermale, who went the whole way. Otis Boultinghouse roped a one-out double in the bottom of the sixth, and a single by Becker Sybirski put runners at the corners.
Lincoln Adams grounded into a fielder's choice to the pitcher, with Sybirski out at second, but a double to center by cleanup hitter Lucien Reed scored two and halved the hosts' deficit.
'We came out and we proved that we should be in the Division 1 playoffs,' Sybirski said. 'Against Summit, against this team, we proved that we could beat any team. I'm just super glad that I got to come out here and spend my time with my brothers … Laguna's not known for their hitting, but I think this year, we proved [we could hit]. Especially this playoffs, we faced four D1 arms and we've hit good against all of them.'
Dane Jenal drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh, bringing the potential tying run to the plate, but Hovermale got Jackson Arrasin to fly out to deep center before striking out Gonzales to end the game.
It was just the fourth loss of the season for the Pacific Coast League champion Breakers, who started the year by rattling off 12 straight wins.
On the mound, junior Branson Wade was 10-1 and Sybirski was 7-1, both with microscopic earned-run averages under one.
'I think people doubt us,' said Sybirski, bound for the New Jersey Institute of Technology, who also led the team by hitting .424. 'They have all year because of our size, but we went out and were dogs on the mound and hitting-wise. We proved that we should be a D1 team.
'It's not the nine guys on the field. The entire year, our dugout, everyone was in 100%. I think that was one of the biggest reasons [we won]. We had guys who really wanted to come out here, practice, work their [behind] off. Then they wouldn't play in a game, but they didn't care. They were true teammates. That was a big thing for me.'
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