It takes a certain kind of person to, as a senior, play the role of distributor on the basketball team and verbally relinquish his title as staff ace to a younger, up-and-coming teammate.
Jakob Conlan has done both of those during a selfless past six months at Live Oak High School.
He was an everyday starter at point guard this winter but was lucky to make the box score, simply because he was so gifted at creating open looks for his peers. Conlan led the team in assists and did not complain.
As the lone veteran in the rotation and one of three seniors on the baseball team, Conlan was projected to be the Acorns’ go-to pitcher this spring. But when asked to compare his career to that of sophomore Mitch Hickey (6-2), Conlan openly made no bones about who’s been more reliable.
“He’s the same as I was my sophomore year; he was the number-two guy, and now he’s going to be the number-one guy – he pretty much is the number-one guy,” Conlan said with a smile. “He’s going to be it again. I’m excited to come back and watch him next year.”
It’s easy to see why Conlan was showered in praise by friends and teammates after pitching Live Oak to a 16-3 win in five innings over Prospect on Friday in what likely was his final start at Sarich Field.
It was Senior Day. But it might as well had been Jakob Conlan Bobblehead Night, a final sendoff for the Acorns’ version of Chipper Jones.
The 5-foot, 9-inch lefty struck out four and allowed three runs in five hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings, helping Live Oak stay afloat in the Central Coast Section playoff race with two mammoth games remaining.
“It’s big. He carries us,” said LOHS first baseman Michael LemMon, a teammate of Conlan on the basketball team. “He’s always energetic, always joking around, but he gets serious around game time. He never gets mad at people; he just picks them up. He’s a true team leader.”
Live Oak manager C.J. Goularte described Conlan as “another coach on the field.”
“He’s been fantastic. His leadership has been huge,” Goularte said. “And most importantly, he’s a great person.
“He works with everybody, works with our freshmen in a year that we’re really, really young,” the first-year skipper added. “It’s been important to have guys who understand the game; who understand what the coaches are asking you to do and communicating that to them in a way that keeps it positive.”
Conlan (3-4) said he didn’t have his best stuff Friday, but the Acorns supplied plenty of support in the form of 15 hits.
“I just wanted to pitch a good game, have a good memory of my last home game,” said Conlan, part of a graduating class with teammates Jacob Estrada and Lorenzo Aguayo. “We scored a lot of runs against them last time, so we just wanted to go after them.”
The Acorns (12-12, 9-10) batted around the order twice, as Hickey went 4 for 4, Matt Bergantz went 3 for 3, and John Forestieri and Kyle quadros went 2 for 3 and matched Hickey and Conlan with three RBIs. LemMon singled twice and drove in four runs, and Ben Nuno and Bergantz scored four times, with Nuno doubling off John Sousa (1-7).
Prospect (6-17, 6-13) scored all of its runs in the third inning, while Conlan struggled with location. Two runs crossed on wild pitches.
“That happens,” Goularte said. “His fastball didn’t really get called on the outer half, so he was trying to steer it in there a little too much. He did have his breaking ball, which helped him get through the lineup the first time.”
Conlan sent the Panthers down in order in the fourth with help from LemMon, who, in one motion, snagged a line drive and stepped on first for a double play.
Estrada came on in relief and worked the final out, and Conlan won for the third time in five appearances. He has not lost since April 5.
“This is my first year catching him, but he’s really progressed since last year,” Live Oak’s Jalen Salazar said, citing Conlan’s command and balance with his pitches. “He’s dominant. He’s been really sound lately. He’s been a guy who can go through the stretch and finish. … He’s been keeping us together, keeping us sound.”
The Acorns needed to sweep their last four regular-season games to finish above .500 overall and in league to thus become eligible for sectionals. A win at Piedmont Hills on Wednesday would make them 3 for 3 and force the two teams into a three-way tie for second place with Oak Grove. Live Oak would hold a tiebreaker over Piedmont Hills, having won two of their three meetings this year. The Acorns, however, were swept by Oak Grove.
Should Live Oak win out and Oak Grove lose one of its final two games, the second playoff berth from the Santa Teresa Division could come down to a coin toss.
The Acorns visit Del Mar on Friday.
“I think we have a really good chance to win these last two games, since we’ve beaten both teams before,” Conlan said. “We still know that we can’t give up. As coach said, we have to play hard the whole seven innings. We have to make every single inning count.”
