Baseball Game Preview: Laguna Beach Breakers vs. Irvine Vaqueros

Laguna Beach is a perfect 3-0 against Irvine since March of 2016 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Wednesday. The Laguna Beach Breakers will be playing at home against the Irvine Vaqueros at 3:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Laguna Beach has six straight victories, Irvine has four straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

While Laguna Beach didn't have the best season last year (they finished 10-17), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They skirted past Dana Hills 3-1. The three-run effort marked the Breakers' lowest-scoring match of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.

Branson Wade

Base on Balls Against

03/01/25 @ Dana Hills	2
02/24/25 vs Esperanza	2
02/17/25 vs El Toro	0

Branson Wade tossed a big game, tossing 4.1 innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks any time he's pitched this season.

For whatever reason, it's the away team that's had the advantage when Irvine and Beckman meet (three straight games heading into this one) and that held true again on Tuesday. Irvine came up short against Beckman, falling 14-4. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest defeat the Vaqueros have suffered since April 25, 2024.

Irvine saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jason Alderson, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with two RBI and one double. The dominant performance gave Alderson a new career-high in RBI.

Laguna Beach's win bumped their record up to 6-0. As for Irvine, they now have a losing record of 4-5.

Irvine's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Laguna Beach hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .374. It's a different story for Irvine, though, as they've only averaged .233. Will they be able to contain Laguna Beach's hitters?

Laguna Beach beat Irvine 9-6 when the teams last played back in February of 2022. Will Laguna Beach repeat their success, or does Irvine have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.