Live Oak was victimized by poor defense and bad luck hitting as
the Acorn baseball team dropped its first Tri-County Athletic
League game of the year 4-3 to visiting Salinas on Wednesday.
“Our defense let us down but we hit seven or eight line drives
right at people,” Live Oak coach Mark Cummins said. “We were
hitting into some tough luck. It just wasn’t our day.”
Live Oak was victimized by poor defense and bad luck hitting as the Acorn baseball team dropped its first Tri-County Athletic League game of the year 4-3 to visiting Salinas on Wednesday.
“Our defense let us down but we hit seven or eight line drives right at people,” Live Oak coach Mark Cummins said. “We were hitting into some tough luck. It just wasn’t our day.”
The Acorns (4-1 in league, 7-4 overall) led 1-0 on a Daniel Salinas run going to the top of the third inning when the wheels fell off.
The Cowboys loaded the bases on a single and two errors, tied the score at 1-1 on the third straight error, then took the lead for good on a two-run single by Greg Broom to make the score 3-1.
Salinas added a run in the sixth to make the score 4-1 before Live Oak rallied in the bottom of the seventh and final inning.
Acorn senior Chase Perez got a one-out single, senior Jared Kwock added a base hit, and both runners advanced on a ground out.
Junior Andrew Cummins followed with a two-run single to bring Live Oak to within a run at 4-3 but the Acorns couldn’t get Cummins home with the tying run.
Losing pitcher Dylan Regan went five innings and allowed all four runs, only one of which was earned, on four hits and struck out five.
Kyle Mosbrucker pitched scoreless ball in the last two innings.
With the loss, Live oak falls into a three-way tie for first place in the TCAL with Palma and Gilroy, which rallied to beat the previously unbeaten Cheif-tains 11-10 in extra innings on Wednesday.
The Acorns will travel to Salinas to play the second game of the home-and-home series with the Cowboys on Friday. The game, which is set for a 3:30 p.m. start, was rescheduled from Saturday.
