Nothing has come easy for the Live Oak High baseball team this
season. So why should the Central Coast Section playoffs be any
different?
Nothing has come easy for the Live Oak High baseball team this season. So why should the Central Coast Section playoffs be any different?
This season, the Acorns have had to battle hitting, fielding and pitching slumps, as well as just plain losing streaks — overcoming them all for the most part to capture second place in the Tri-County Athletic League and earn an automatic berth in the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs.
Then last weekend, at the CCS seeding meeting, Live Oak was given a No. 9 seed (which means no home game) and a first-round opponent in No. 8 seed Archbishop Mitty and its ace pitcher Jason Codiroli that the Acorns had already lost to earlier this season. The Acorns play at Mitty on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
And, if that wasn’t enough, if Live Oak does manage to make it past the first round, the Acorns will likely face No. 1 seed Wilcox in the second round.
Veteran Live Oak coach Mark Cummins isn’t sugar-coating things either.
“We have a pretty difficult matrchup,” Cummins said, remembering the 8-0 loss to Mitty and Codiroli in the Wilcox Tournament earlier this season. “We’re definitely going to have to play one of our best games of the year. But we’ve been playing well lately. Hopefully, we’ll continue to swing the bats like we have and hopefully we can tighten up defense, which we’ll need to do to beat a team like Mitty.”
Live Oak (14-11 overall) finished the regular season with a rush, winning four league games in a row including a crucial 15-14 victory over rival Gilroy to capture the second spot in the league.
During that streak, the Acorns pounded opponents into submission, scoring 52 runs in the four games and chalking up two 10-run “mercy” rule victories.
Live Oak is led by seniors Dave Newton, Chase Perez, Steve Conner, Daniel Salinas and Eric Abbott, along with juniors Andrew Cummins and Doug Porras, and sophomore standout hurler Kyle Mosbrucker.
Newton led the team in hitting at a .462 clip and added two home runs and 17 RBIs. Cummins was a close second at .449, with 11 doubles and 14 RBIs. Porras was third in hitting at .386.
In all, seven Acorns hit better than .300 this season, while five of them had 10 RBIs or more.
Live Oak was led in pitching by Dave Regan (2-2, 2.69 ERA), Abbott (5-1, 2.71 ERA) and Mosbrucker (2-1, 2.75 ERA).
If the Acorns manage to beat Mitty, their second-round game would be on Saturday at PAL Stadium at 7 p.m. The likely opponent would be top-seed Wilcox, which beat Live Oak 5-1 behind talented lefthander Donald Brandt in the Wilcox Tournament earlier this season.
In other CCS Division I first-round games involving TCAL teams, No. 12 Gilroy (16-9-1) plays at No. 5 Valley Christian (23-10) and No. 13 San Benito (16-13) plays at No. 4 Leland (13-11-2).
Both games are also scheduled for Wednesday at 4 p.m.
