This year
’s version of the Morgan Hill Athletics Palomino 17- and
18-year-old baseball team will rely heavily on a solid group of
Live Oak players to carry it into the playoffs.
This year’s version of the Morgan Hill Athletics Palomino 17- and 18-year-old baseball team will rely heavily on a solid group of Live Oak players to carry it into the playoffs.
The top six teams make the Palomino North Region Tournament Aug. 6-10.
“If all of the kids keep showing up for games, we should be able to make the playoffs,” said Palomino coach Roy Jackson.
Jackson hopes the jinx of last year’s team, which was the first team in 13 years not to make postseason play, is gone. The Athletics have a good group of pitchers, but will have to do all the little things to win games this year.
“We’re not a team that is going to hit the long ball,” Jackson said. “We are going to be a good pitching and defensive team. We got to rely on being able to manufacture runs to score. It looks like we are a hot streaky team. I had a hard time making the lineup because we have no real big power.”
Live Oak’s Scott Hayslip hit cleanup for the A’s first two games of the season during the Memorial Day tournament in Monterey. Dave Newton, who batted cleanup for Live Oak, will move up to the leadoff spot which he feels more comfortable in.
Live Oak grad Ritchie Rodriquez, who played for Gavilan last year, will bat in the No. 3 spot. And Bryan Silverman, a Homestead High grad who played for the Palominos last year, will bat fourth when he returns from the University of California, San Diego.
“We will probably have five or six guys that bat around .300 all year round,” Jackson said. “We have to rely on speed and play small ball to take advantage of situations.”
Jackson likens the team to the Dodgers of the 1960s with guys like Maury Wills and Junior Gilliam stealing bases and scoring on a sacrifice fly and pitchers like Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale picking up the 1-0 win.
The Athletics went 1-1-1 in the Memorial Day tournament to start the season off.
The team couldn’t score any runs in the first two games but then scored 11 in the third game. Live Oak pitcher Kyle Bennett went seven innings before giving up a hit in the first game that ended in a 0-0 tie.
“I told the guys it felt like if we could score a run we could win the game,” Jackson said. “Their pitcher had a great slider. I don’t think he threw a fast ball all game long.”
In addition to Bennett, the Palomino starting rotation will consist of players like Rodriquez, John Kirkish and Dylan Regan.
Regan will be undergoing surgery on his pitching arm on June 18. He was cleared to play until then as long as he doesn’t experience and discomfort.
Silverman, Brian Zarubi and Mark Johnson will also see some time on the mound.
Ryan Muller, Chase Perez and Andrew Cummins are three of the Live Oak players who Jackson said he would like to have on his squad this summer but won’t play because of their other obligations.
Perez plans on playing for the Santa Clara Red Sox, which hosts the World Series each year. This year it will be held Aug. 8-11. Cummins is not old enough to join the team.
Dan Benevento, Josh Newton and Kirkish will all share the responsibilities for catcher. Kirkish can play all over the field. In the Memorial Day Tournament, Kirkish played at third base, center field and pitcher.
Kirkish is the only current Gilroy baseball player on the roster. Josh Newton, the cousin of Live Oak’s Dave Newton, attends Gilroy High School but does not play baseball there.
Other players expected to help the Palominos this year include Joey Fabor, a junior at Homestead and Russel Laubach from Los Gatos High. Laubach can pitch and play first and third base.
The Palominos play most of their home games at West Valley College. This year, the team will also be playing two home games at Live Oak on June 4 and June 11. Although the game on the 11th may have to be move because of the closeness to Live Oak graduation, which will be held on the baseball fields.
The Athletics will play 16 of their 21 games at home this year.
“No one had fields available this year,” Jackson said. “It has its advantages and disadvantages. We end up paying the umpires. If it pays off in a win, it was well worth the money.”
The Senior Babe Ruth League was expanded this year to allow 19-year-olds to play. Before it was limited to players between the age of 15-18.
The Morgan Hill Babe Ruth team will begin its season June 4 against the Santa Cruz Expos at Santa Cruz High School.
The Morgan Hill Colt team of 15- and 16-year-olds begins play on May 31 against Blossom Valley at Live Oak High.
Both Babe Ruth and Colt teams are coached by Dave Newton, John Bennett and Mike Bousloug.
