Acorns varsity defeats alumni, 7-6; Live Oak JV beat by older
alums, 12-2
Morgan Hill – Each year Live Oak’s alumni baseball game has grown as more and more Acorn alumni return to participate. So for the ninth annual alumni game this year for the first time two games were played. The Acorns JV team faced alumni who graduated in 1995 and before, while the varsity faced the alumni that graduated in 1996 or later.
“It’s always a fun game to play and we have a lot of alum coming back,” said Live Oak coach Mark Cummins. “We’ve got a great tradition here. They (former players) feel proud of being an Acorn. There’s a lot of good ballplayers and former champions. The game has grown bigger and bigger every year.”
For the past three years, the alumni game has coincided with Live Oak baseball team’s golf tournament fundraiser. The third annual golf tournament was held on Friday at the Gilroy Golf Course, raising funds for the Live Oak baseball program.
On Saturday, the JV team took the field first against the older alumni. The big hero in the alumni’s 12-2 victory was ’87 graduate Carlos Carrasco. Carrasco, a two time all Central Coast Section player who played AAA ball professionally for 10 years, blasted a grand slam on the first pitch he saw during his second at-bat on Saturday.
Daniel Crossen, a ’95 graduate, and Ryan Smith each had three hits for the alumni team. Manny Sousa, a ’73 graduate, was the oldest alum to participate and was hitting over .800 in seven alumni games.
“It’s a chance to hang out with their friends and play on the field that they had so much success on before,” said the alumni team manager Jim Crossen. “We don’t have any practices before the game. It’s a roll of the dice, but a lot of guys always respond, so it’s not a gamble.”
Crossen also said that the games were split this year to accommodate the more than 30 alumni that came back. All the alumni get a chance to play two positions and four innings each.
Following the JV and older alumni matchup, Live Oak’s varsity squad took the field to take on the alumni that graduated in ’96 or later. The Acorns squeaked by the alumni with a 7-6 victory.
“It’s fun because you get to play against guys you looked up to,” said Acorn Mike Sorci. “You’re out there to have fun, no matter what the outcome.”
And fun it definitely was as the teams traded good-natured trash talk and a lot of laughs over the course of the nine inning games.
Returning to take on the varsity Acorns were Live Oak graduates, catcher Dan Benevento (’04), brothers Bill, Eric and Mark Thaw, brothers Jason (’93), Michael (’96) and Steve Sarich (’99), CJ Goularte (’02), Adam Montarbo (’98), Eric Wagle (’98), Adam Ferguson (’98), Josh Becknall (’02), Jon Michael Porras (’98), Aaron Rodriguez (’98), Bryce Wilson, Matt Lesile, Steve Connor, Gary Genest, Dan Terraza and Michael Mon.
“I’m grateful to the varsity and JV teams that they didn’t bunt us to death because we have trouble covering the bunt,” laughed Crossen. “The Live Oak varsity is a solid team with a lot of arms. They didn’t walk hardly any of us. The key for them is throwing strikes.”
Acorn catcher, junior Eddie Gomez added, “It was fun playing because some of them were on the team last year. We like to win because we’ve been winning the past couple of years. It wouldn’t have been bad if we lost, but the win was nice. I’ll be here to play after I graduate.”
The Live Oak varsity team returns to the field today as they open up play in the West Coast Classic against Gunn at 10am at Live Oak.
