The Live Oak-Gilroy rivalry has recessed over the years, but
losing to the Mustangs still carries plenty of sting
GILROY — Mark Cummins and Clint Wheeler. Perhaps no one grasps the impact of the Gilroy-Live Oak rivalry more than the timeless coaches who stood opposite each other at Gilroy’s wind-chilled baseball diamond.
Combined, their careers make up almost four decades’ worth of contests between the two programs. Cummins has coached at Live Oak for 23 years; Wheeler played at Gilroy for three and is in his 11th season as the Mustangs’ skipper.
Their schools’ lists of rivals have grown during that time. But to Cummins and Wheeler, Live Oak-Gilroy is still Live Oak-Gilroy.
“It’s always a big one,” Cummins says.
“These kids are too young to know, but this is a pretty big rivalry,” Wheeler adds. “I’ve known Mark for over 20 years now, and Live Oak and Gilroy is still huge.”
One of the South Valley’s oldest rivalries produced another gem Tuesday.
After Live Oak conquered a 3-2 deficit in the seventh inning, Gilroy answered with four runs in the bottom half to triumph 7-6. The nonleague thriller ended with Roberto Celestino’s two-run double to deep center field.
“This brought back a lot of memories,” Wheeler said. “There’s been a lot of good ones and a lot of rough ones. It’s always nice when you’re on this end.”
Gilroy (10-8 overall, 6-3 league) was lifeless until a dramatic sixth inning, when Gabriel Bonilla scored on a passed ball, and Celestino and Derek Engen belted back-to-back RBI singles off Acorns closer Connor Sutton (5-1).
Ken Hall gave Live Oak a 2-0 lead with his RBI single in the top half.
“We didn’t give up,” Celestino said. “I was sick last year when they beat us, so I didn’t get to play. This meant a lot to me.
“Everyone battled in the end and, lately, we’ve been struggling with that.”
The Mustangs snapped a two-game slide.
“You have to give them credit,” Cummins said. “After us having a big inning in the top of the seventh, you have to give them a lot of credit for battling back. That’s baseball, you know.”
Down to its last out in the seventh, Live Oak (12-7, 7-5) tied it with Michael Schreiber’s run-scoring single up the middle, then went ahead 6-3 on Dylan Davis’ three-run blast to left off Thomas Harrington.
“It felt good. It felt really good when I hit it,” Davis said of his first home run this season. “I thought it was a double first. I said, ‘uh oh!’ But then they told me it was out of here.”
The Mustangs recovered quickly, loading the bases on consecutive singles by Jordan Holler, Taylor Chris and Lukas Fortino. After Eric Vegas’ two-run single made it 6-5, Rafael Garcia reached on a bunt to load the bases, setting up Celestino’s walk-off double.
Chris batted 3 for 4 with a double, and Garcia collected a single and two walks.
“We basically have been a last-half-of-the-game team,” Wheeler said. “We sit around a bit, then we kind of push the panic button.
“We were hoping to get on them early before facing (Sutton) at the end … but it worked out.”
The big finale overshadowed a pair of gritty starts by Rich Martinez of Live Oak and Michael Hartman of Gilroy. The pitchers went toe to toe through the first five innings, allowing seven hits combined. Martinez struck out six, walked two and surrendered one run on three hits in 5 1-3 innings, and Hartman scattered seven hits and two runs in six innings. Hartman struck out two and walked four. Both left in line for the decision.
Harrington blew the save, but picked up the win.
“We needed to score more early and needed a little better defense,” Schreiber, who went 2 for 3, said. “We needed to support Richie a little more. Connor, no one’s perfect. Connor’s still our guy. He just had a rough day.”
Martinez reached base in all four plate appearances, singling twice, and Gabriel Mancias and Hall finished 2 for 4 for the Acorns, who also received an RBI single from Anthony Macadaeg in the second. Blair Zerr, who was recently called up from the junior varsity team, made a diving catch in right with men in scoring position to end the second.
“We played great today, but sometimes it goes the other team’s way,” Davis, a senior, said. “It stings a little because it’s Gilroy, and they used to be our big rival. It still hurts a little bit. It’s still there.”
Live Oak, which on Wednesday broke into the San Jose Mercury News’ rankings at No. 15, will host King City in a nonleague game at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
