Bennett strikes out 8 in one of his strongest outings
Bennett strikes out 8 in one of his strongest outings
By NATHAN MIXTER
Sports Editor
After watching fellow pitcher Ryan Muller handle North Salinas two days earlier, Kyle Bennett was determined not to be outdone.
Bennett threw a two-hitter in his six innings to lead Live Oak to a 10-1 victory over visiting North Salinas Friday afternoon. He had eight strikeouts despite a tight strike zone.
“He wasn’t giving me much,” Bennett said. “I went right at them. They were aggressive, but they just couldn’t hit the ball.”
“It was good for his confidence and for the team’s behind him,” said Live Oak coach Mark Cummins.
The only hits Muller gave up were a lazy fly ball by Robert Garcia that cleared the left-field fence for a sole home run in the second inning and a little bloop that fell in right field just short of Miles Curley’s glove.
On the home run pitch: “It was a changeup,” Bennett said. “It wasn’t a bad pitch, but he got it.”
Hollister (8-3), Salinas (10-6) and Live Oak (8-3) are all locked up in a first-place tie in the Tri-County Athletic League with 3-1 records. That will change this week when Live Oak plays Salinas twice – Wednesday at Salinas and Saturday at home.
“We left them in the game early,” Cummins said. “But we picked it up a notch late with some timely hits. Their pitcher was mixing it up a little bit. We were just missing some. He got a little tired and his pitches started coming up a little.”
Shortstop Dave Newton turned a couple nice plays to eliminate runners at second base to end consecutive innings. In the second inning, he put the tag on a runner attempting to steal, and in the third, Chase Perez made a quick throw to second to get the runner leading off.
It wasn’t until the fourth and fifth innings that Live Oak was able to pull away.
Sean Nourie knocked Hayslip and Muller with a base hit through the left side. Nourie scored from second with two out on an error by the right fielder. And Bennett helped his cause with a base hit through the middle to make it 5-1.
Live Oak again sent nine batters to the plate in the fifth inning. Hayslip beat out an infield hit and advanced to third as he got a quick jump on a hit by Newton. Muller brought them both in with a double to right with no outs. Perez picked up two more RBIs. And Andrew Cummins knocked in Perez for the final run.
Coach Cummins made some changes to the lineup moving his son up to leadoff spot and dropping Newton to the third position in the lineup. That change paid off for the Acorns as Cummins led off the first inning with a triple. He later scored on a ball hit by Scott Hayslip that wasn’t fielded cleanly.
“Dave is probably one of our best hitters, but he is not a true leadoff hitter,” Cummins said. “He is an aggressive hitter and more of a free swinger. Andrew is more apt to walk and can steal a bag for us. He has gotten on base quite a few times recently.”
North Salinas 010 000 0 1 2 2
Live Oak 100 450 x 10 8 1
Alejo, Cotton (5), McCReady (6) and Yates. Bennett, Newton (7) and Perez. WP-Bennett. LP-Alejo. HR-Garcia (NS). 3B-Cummins (LO). 2B-Muller (LO). 2H-Hayslip, Muller, Cummins (LO), Garcia (S).
