A month and three weeks after he was placed on administrative leave from teaching and coaching, Long Beach Poly baseball coach Brent Lavoie has been reinstated and will return to the team on Tuesday, according to a message sent to Poly parents; the team was also notified on Monday. Lavoie confirmed his reinstatement on Monday evening.
The Long Beach Unified School District did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation that its investigation of Lavoie was complete and that he’d been reinstated. When he was placed on leave on March 3, the district said it could not comment on why he’d been placed on leave. School officials deferred requests for comment to the district.
Before the season, Lavoie said that his team was filled with veteran players who were prepared to lead and take responsibility, as they had all offseason long. As it turned out, he was correct. The Jackrabbits squad under interim coach Curtis Thompson has been on fire, with an 18-3 record and a perfect 9-0 league mark, having all but clinched sole possession of their third league title in four years.
Poly has three more Moore League games this week against Cabrillo, Lakewood and Jordan as they try to wrap up what would be a historic undefeated league slate, which no team has done in at least 20 years in the Moore League. The wins have come with opportunistic offense and stingy pitching and defense, giving up just nine runs in nine league games, and just 33 runs in 21 games overall this season.
