SALINAS
– The Live Oak baseball team had no trouble with North Salinas
Wednesday, winning 11-0 after the 10-run mercy rule came into play
in the sixth inning.
SALINAS – The Live Oak baseball team had no trouble with North Salinas Wednesday, winning 11-0 after the 10-run mercy rule came into play in the sixth inning.
It was all Live Oak (7-4, 2-1 TCAL) as the Acorns out hit the Vikings 12-2 in a game that was originally supposed to be played at Live Oak. The Acorns will swap games and take the Friday home game against North Salinas (1-8, 0-3 TCAL).
Ryan Muller (4-1) got the win after going five innings and striking out six. Eric Abbott came in the sixth inning and struck out two of the three batters he faced.
The two hits Live Oak gave up were a line drive to right and an infield hit. The defense played error-free ball.
Dave Newton went 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Muller had two hits and two RBIs. His two-out RBI single in the first inning got the rally going.
Bryan Jones had and RBI double. Chase Perez had two hits including a double. And Trevor Molyneaux had two hits and a couple RBI.
“Up and down the lineup, we hit the ball well,” said coach Mark Cummins. “We have to have the same mode as coming into this game when we play them again. It is still 0-0. You don’t want to be the first to give them a league win.”
Kyle Bennett will get the start Friday.
“Next week is a big week playing Salinas two games,” Cummins said. “Ryan won’t pitch against North Salinas. We will have a couple pitchers ready to go. We want to keep everyone fresh.”
Volleyball
SALINAS –After handling Palma easily in the first two games Wednesday night in the Tri-County League opener, Live Oak dropped the next two before winning in the rally match and walking away with a 15-4, 15-3, 4-15, 10-15, 15-10 win.
“It was a good experience for us,” said coach John Telfer. “We started out playing really well. We did some very free substitutions. I wanted to get a look at some players in different situations.”
“The chemistry fell apart,” Telfer added. “They didn’t do bad, but it just interrupted our rhythm. We put the starters back in, but the momentum carried over to fifth game. Even when they were back in it was still tough.”
Live Oak doubled Palma in the kill category 46-23. Drew Pearson led the way with 15 kills and eight blocks. Matt McElroy had eight kills. Terry Sullivan also had eight kills and several key blocks.
Jeremy Bouchette continues playing solid while filling in for Gavin Kolodge, who is expected to be out another week after suffering a back injury snow boarding.
Eric Telfer kept the Viking off balance with his strong serves that forced bad passes. Setter Sampson Chan also had some strong serves.
“Volleyball can have huge momentum swings,” Telfer said. “If you get on the bottom side, sometimes it can snowball over you. They were scrappy, and they didn’t quit.”
“We got to eliminate those momentum swings,” Telfer added. “Against a better team, we would have been upset. We had a lot of unforced errors.”
Live Oak (6-4, 1-0 TCAL) will host Seaside Friday night but will be without Drew Pearson, who is playing in an elite basketball tournament.
“Seaside is almost always a good defensive team,” Telfer said. “We have to be patient with them. We can’t get down on ourselves if we hit the ball and they dig it back up.”
The Live Oak men’s alumni volleyball game will be held March 29 at 3:30 p.m. at the Live Oak gym. Any volleyball alumni interested in playing should contact John Telfer at 779-6360.
Badminton
SAN JOSE – Live Oak lost 8-7 at San Jose Tuesday.
Golf
Live Oak and Gilroy tied for second place with a score of 168 in a league meet on Monday at Gilroy Golf Course. Hollister took first with a score of 157.
