SAN JOSE
– The last three years Live Oak has won just one game each year
in the West Coast Classic baseball tournament hosted by Arch Bishop
Mitty.
SAN JOSE – The last three years Live Oak has won just one game each year in the West Coast Classic baseball tournament hosted by Arch Bishop Mitty.
After the Acorns opened up the tournament with a 4-2 win over St. Francis from Ohio on Tuesday, coach Mark Cummins knew they had a chance for more. But after a couple of losses Wednesday, Live Oak will have to settle for contending for seventh place.
The game originally scheduled for Thursday against St. Francis of Mountain View was rained out and will be played Saturday at 10 a.m. at St. Francis.
Ryan Muller pitched a complete 11-strikeout game on Tuesday against St. Francis De Sales.
“Ryan pitched well and got out of a couple of jams,” said Live Oak coach Mark Cummins. He hung in there tough and got out of a few jams.”
Twice in the game Live Oak picked off a runner at third base attempting a suicide squeeze with two strikes. And twice Muller struck out the batter, and the Acorns turned the double play.
“We want to play that way,” said St. Francis coach Don Kobler. “We think to maximum our abilities, we need to play that way. We just didn’t execute.”
“I thought he (Muller) was as good a pitcher as we’ve seen in the past few years,” Kobler added. “He had good velocity. They called a good game, and they made all the plays.”
Down 4-3 in the seventh inning, Tom Gerken led off the inning with a triple. Muller struck out the next batter and the following batter also.
“We knew they had done it before so we were watching out for it,” Cummins said. “Luckily Ryan threw the ball by the guy, and he wasn’t able to get the bat on the ball, and we got the double play.”
Live Oak has been on the receiving end of a suicide squeeze in the first game against Gilroy this season in which the Mustangs won 6-5.
St. Francis, which starts the season later in the year than teams on the west coast, was 5-1 overall after the game. St. Francis normally plays in a tournament in Florida but was unable to because of the start of the state tournament, which begins in the middle of the season unlike on the west coast.
“It was a good win against a quality team,” Cummins said. “That is what we are facing in this tournament.”
In the Wednesday morning game at West Valley College, Live Oak lost to Mitty 7-1 behind the performance of sophomore lefty Jason Cordiroli.
“There are no easy games,” said Bill Sutton, who is in his 21st year as Mitty coach. “Our pitcher had one of his best outings of the year. We had some key hits and were able to hold on.”
Mitty’s Robert Perry, who has a scholarship to Santa Clara, hit a three-run home run in the second inning.
Live Oak scratched out four hits in the game and scored its only run in the third inning. Trevor Molyneaux lead off with a single. A shortstop throwing error allowed Molyneaux to score from second.
In the Wednesday afternoon game, Live Oak lost to Long Beach 5-4. Although Live Oak outhit Lakewood 8-3, five errors opened the door.
“We swung the bat pretty well,” Cummins said. “We did leave some runners on base. Our defense was our downfall in this game. We just couldn’t over come that. It was a pretty strong Lakewood team, but it was a team we competed with and should have defeated.”
Dylan Regan started the game and pitched well. Dave Newton took the loss even though he did not allow a hit.
After Lakewood put up two runs in the first inning, Live Oak answered with three of its own. Andrew Cummins lead off with a single. Molyneaux singled, and Muller brought in Cummins with one out.
Molyneaux scored on a wild pitch. Runners were at first and third after Sean Nourie singled. Jared Kwock reached on error that allowed Muller to score.
Live Oak got its final run in the fifth inning. Molyneaux picked up a hit, and Muller walked. They were moved up on a wild pitch. Nourie sacrificed to bring in a run.
“We are trying to stay positive and play strong against St. Francis,” Cummins said. “Hopefully we can build some momentum going into the big game next Wednesday against Hollister.”
That game will be hosted by the Balers at 4 p.m.
