If the Live Oak High baseball team
’s victory over league nemesis Palma in last week’s West Coast
Classic is any indication of the Acorns’ ability to rebound from a
skein of disappointing play, the squad’s prospects should be
looking up by the end of this week.
If the Live Oak High baseball team’s victory over league nemesis Palma in last week’s West Coast Classic is any indication of the Acorns’ ability to rebound from a skein of disappointing play, the squad’s prospects should be looking up by the end of this week.
If not, the only things looking up will be the Acorns themselves.
Very simply, its’ time for Live Oak to show its mettle as it enters this week’s key home-and-home Tri-County Athletic League series against Gilroy.
Live Oak hosts Gilroy on Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the series opener, then travels to Gilroy for the second game at 4 p.m. on Friday.
After a fast start, Live Oak (9-9 overall, 5-3 in league) comes into this week’s series with the Mustangs having lost three of its last four league games, including two straight to first-place Palma that dropped the Acorns out of first and into third.
Meanwhile, second-place Gilroy (6-2 in league) leads Live Oak by a full game in the standings. Palma (7-1 in league) has a two-game edge over the Acorns, and enters a home-and-home series against Hollister-San Benito this week.
Depending on their play this week, the Acorns could either eliminate themselves from the hunt for a league title or a section playoff berth, or they could vault back into first place.
Live Oak coach Mark Cummins knows how essential this week’s games are against a tough opponent that has been playing well this season.
“We don’t want to fall any further back (in the TCAL standings),” Cummins said. “We want to stay in contention and we have to do it now.”
Cummins said he’s hoping his team shows the same resilience that they did in last week’s tourney. After dropping three straight one-run games, the Acorns rebounded to spank the Chieftains 12-2 in the tourney finale, ending the game early on the 10-run “mercy” rule and sending their league rivals home without a tourney win.
“We were very frustrated early in the tournament — disappointed in our performance,” Cummins said. “But I told (the team) before the Palma game to put that behind us and focus on that next game. And, we did. Right now, we’re focused on the rest of the league race. It’s a new couple of weeks and we hope to put the first part of the season behind us. We’re looking forward to this week.”
Cummins said Live Oak plans to start sophomore pitcher Kyle Mosbrucker in Tuesday’s series opener and follow up with senior Eric Abbott in Friday’s finale.
Cummins said his team will have to be sharp to compete with a fast Mustang team that pushes the action.
“Gilroy always plays an aggressive brand of baseball,” Cummins said. “I expect them to run the bases and put pressure on our defense. That will be the key to this week’s games — how we play defense.”
Gilroy and head coach Clint Wheeler are led by seniors like Ben Hemeon and Ron Colmon, but several key Mustang underclassmen have also come through for the young Gilroy squad this season, including juniors Peter Mickartz, Marty Sustaita, Anthony Lucio, Carlos Garcia and Joe Cano.
Despite a roster full of first-year starters, Gilroy has played with confidence, continuing a string of impressive play that dates back to last season when the Mustangs won six straight to finish the year including wins over TCAL co-champs Live Oak and Hollister.
Meanwhile, Cummins said he’s hoping for some help from Hollister this week.
“(Palma has)to be on a downer — they lost four in a row at the tournament,” he said. “We have to hope for at least one win from Hollister, maybe two.”
