Live Oak will host Leigh on Friday to end the regular season
MORGAN HILL — Fans have two more years to savor watching Jakob Conlan of Live Oak High School and Dylan Bell of Leland pitch against each other in May. Wednesday, they caught a sterling glimpse of the future of Mount Hamilton Division baseball at Sarich Field, where the two rookies traded heroics in their first of many showdowns to come.
Bell looks like he has been doing it for years. He is a 6-foot right-handed freshman and the leader in wins on a varsity team that clinched the league title a week ago. He struck out six, walked two and allowed one earned run in a five-inning two-hitter Wednesday. But the day belonged to scrappy Live Oak and Conlan, who showed he has big-game mettle as well.
Led by the sturdy sophomore lefty, the Acorns played tight defense and scored two runs off errors in the fourth inning to prevail 2-1, a seismic notch going into Saturday’s Central Coast Section playoff meeting.
Live Oak remained in fifth place — a game out of being in contention for an automatic postseason invite — but still has the best chance of earning the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s eighth and final berth.
Winners of nine of their last 11, the Acorns (15-11 overall, 10-10 league) will host eighth-place Leigh on Friday to end the regular season.
“We’re going to keep the pedal down. We don’t want to lose any momentum right now,” LOHS manager Mark Cummins said. “Our fielding is the best it’s been, and our bats are coming around — even when we need to scrap for runs. Our pitching has been excellent. Jakob gave us the kind of start you can only hope for this late in the season.”
Conlan was tagged with six hits but pitched his way out several jams, including a bases-loaded situation with two outs in the second. The Chargers strung together singles by Andrew Todd, Nikko Saenz and Mitch Evanier only to see Conlan escape — on a passed ball, no less. With lead-off man Vinnie Gemette batting, Conlan threw an 0-2 pitch in the dirt that bounced off the backstop and right to catcher Cody Van Aken, who flipped to Conlan in time to put out Todd in a rundown between third base and home.
Leland (17-9, 14-6) broke through in the sixth when Trevor Marino started the inning with a single, and Trevor Dyer doubled him home. Conlan foiled the visitors again, retiring his next three batters.
Conlan (4-2) worked a 1-2-3 seventh to cap his third complete game. He threw 89 pitches.
“He was in the zone,” Acorns junior right fielder Ryan Hennings said. “It’s getting us excited for next year, knowing he and (junior ace Rich Martinez) will be back on the hill again, but we’re excited for this year, too. We’re ready for playoff baseball.”
The same goes for any team that’s lucky or good. Right now, the Acorns are both. They were sent down in order through the first three innings, collecting only a single by Ken Hall (who was put out in a double play), but squeezed across two unearned runs in the fourth.
After Bell (5-3) retired Michael Schreiber and Nick Pusateri, Ryan Muir drew a walk at the No. 3 spot, and Van Aken moved him to second with a single to left. Hall, who batted twice in the game, plated Muir on a hard grounder than deflected off Saenz’s glove at shortstop.
Van Aken broke for third during the next at-bat and scored on the throw, which ended up in left field.
“They helped us out a little today, but we’ll take whatever we can against the first-place team and their best pitcher,” Cummins said. “You have to take advantage when you can.”
The strong wind didn’t affect Schreiber in center. The senior got all six fly balls hit to him, including a diving grab in the fifth. Schreiber also ran down a long drive hit to right-center field in the third.
“He’s everywhere. We wonder how he does it sometimes,” Hennings said.
Marino batted 2 for 3 to lead the Chargers, whose Division I playoff run is scheduled to begin Wednesday.
Barring controversy, Live Oak will open the Division III tournament that same day — a welcome return for a program that missed the postseason for the first time in 17 years last spring.
Martinez is in line to start Friday and Wednesday, and Conlan said he’ll be ready to go Saturday if his team advances.
“I’d definitely like the opportunity,” he said. “I’m going to approach it like any other game, doing whatever I can to help this team.”
