Baseball: Austin Saenz is having MVP season

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Mission Viejo was ranked No. 1 by The Times to start the season, struggled in the first month and has finally caught fire, reaching the Southern Section Division 2 semifinals, and leading the way has been outfielder Austin Saenz, who has 53 hits and is batting .495.

Mission Viejo also has eight senior starters, so this is a veteran team handling the playoff pressure well. Santa Barbara will travel to Mission Viejo for Tuesday’s semifinal.

-- Eric Sondheimer