Talk about jumping right into the fire of league competition.
The Live Oak High baseball team will be tested immediately when
Tri-County Athletic League play begins this week, as the Acorns are
scheduled to play rival Hollister-San Benito in a home-and-home
series.
Talk about jumping right into the fire of league competition. The Live Oak High baseball team will be tested immediately when Tri-County Athletic League play begins this week, as the Acorns are scheduled to play rival Hollister-San Benito in a home-and-home series.
Live Oak hosts the Haybalers in both teams’ TCAL opener on Wednes-day at 3:30 p.m., and the action shifts to Hollister on Friday.
Live Oak and Hollister shared the TCAL title last season with 11-4 records.
And, this season, the two teams are expected to battle each other for the top spot again.
According to Live Oak coach Mark Cummins, the Acorns (2-3 overall) are ready to go after a challenging non-league season.
“We’re excited about Wednesday — Hollister has always been a big rival in league and we’re looking forward to this week,” Cummins said. “We had a tough time, by our standards, in preseason — we played some tough teams — and we’re hoping to make that pay off when we get into league play.”
Live Oak boasts top returners Dave Newton, Andrew Cummins, Chase Perez, Steve Conner and Wednesday’s starting pitcher Dylan Regan.
Newton is scheduled to start on Friday. Meanwhile, Hollister and first-year coach Derek Barnes were devastated by graduat-ion, losing eight senior starters and their coach from last year’s co-championship team.
Barnes takes over for Neal Andrade, who is Gavilan College’s head baseball coach this year.
The Balers return one starter from last season’s team, catcher Anthony Synegal.
But Hollister boasts a solid corp of good athletes, including Mike Lango, Nick Gonzales, Karson Klauer and Jason Sims.
Hollister’s pitching, led by Brian Rossi and Breyon Canez, is supposed to be a strength.
