LBHS JV baseball rallies against Estancia

LBHS Junior Varsity Baseball 8

Estancia HS Junior Varsity Baseball 7

LBHS Junior Varsity Baseball team came from behind Thursday, May 8, in the bottom of the 7th inning with a 6-run rally to defeat a strong Estancia HS team at home at the Skipper Carrillo Field.

The Estancia team was a combination of JV and Varsity players and played hard and with determination. Austin Paxton started pitching for Laguna and kept the Estancia Eagles to just 4 runs through 5 innings. Laguna scored 2 runs in the first inning when Paxton walked followed by a pair of doubles by Raphael Vickers and Stevie Contursi. That was the end of Laguna’s scoring until the 7 inning despite singles by Keaton Jones and Tyler Pierce in the 3rd, a pinch hit single by Jake Herbert in the 5th, and a triple by Vickers and a double by Contursi in the 6th inning. Estancia had 1 run in and bases loaded when Sawyer Pierce came for relief for Laguna in the 6 inning and retired the side. The Eagles scored 3 more times in the top of the 7th on 2 singles and 4 walks; Ryan Raffo came in for relief and finished the Eagle’s rally. At the end of 6 ½ innings the Eagles were leading 7-2. In the bottom of the 7th inning with one out catcher Spencer Freidenrich hit a double followed by singles by Kyle Jones and Logan Schoembs. Keaton Jones got on an error by the shortstop followed by another double by Vickers making the score 7-6. The Eagles’ pitcher intentionally walked Contursi putting runners on 1st and 2nd base with one out. The next Laguna Batter struck out making 2 outs and then Michael Opera walked loading up the bases as the Laguna team batted around bring up Freidenrich for the second time in the inning. The count was 1 ball and 1 strike on Freidenrich when the 3rd pitch got away from the Eagle’s catcher and Vickers came charging home. The catcher retrieved the ball and threw it to the pitcher at home as Vickers slid in face first safe for the game winning run. The Laguna dugout emptied on to the field celebrating with an entire team dog pile.

This was the final game of the season for the LBHS Junior Varsity baseball team and an exciting ending to a league winning season of 11 wins and 6 losses. Other Laguna Junior Varsity players not mentioned above who contributed to the winning season included Taylor Preston, Jake Glazer, Noah Hoffman, Alex Lebon and Jackson Christy.

The LBHS Junior Varsity team was coached by Brian Brubaker, Mike Bair and Randy Beckman.