When Live Oak High junior pitcher Kyle Mosbrucker felt the pain
in his right arm after throwing a pitch during last week
’s game at Gilroy, it felt hauntingly familiar. “He called us
out there and said it felt like the time before,” LO coach Mark
Cummins said. As it turned out, it was a familiar feeling because
Mosbrucker had suffered a similar injury when he was 12 years old.
As a result, Mosbrucker will miss t
he remainder of the season. According to Cummins, the tall,
hard-throwing right-hander will be placed in a hard cast for three
weeks and a soft cast for two more weeks. It will be at least 5-6
weeks before he can consider rehabilitation, according to his
father Jay Mosbrucker.
When Live Oak High junior pitcher Kyle Mosbrucker felt the pain in his right arm after throwing a pitch during last week’s game at Gilroy, it felt hauntingly familiar.
“He called us out there and said it felt like the time before,” LO coach Mark Cummins said.
As it turned out, it was a familiar feeling because Mosbrucker had suffered a similar injury when he was 12 years old.
As a result, Mosbrucker will miss the remainder of the season. According to Cummins, the tall, hard-throwing right-hander will be placed in a hard cast for three weeks and a soft cast for two more weeks. It will be at least 5-6 weeks before he can consider rehabilitation, according to his father Jay Mosbrucker.
Mosbrucker said the doctors told him the injury was a clean break – not from overuse – and called it “very, very strange.”
“They said they hadn’t seen (an injury) like that very much before,” the elder Mosbrucker said.
Now the Acorns, locked in a pennant race, will have to do without one of their top players for its final two regular season games and into the Central Coast Section playoffs.
“We all feel terrible for him,” Cummins said. “He’s such a great kid and worked so hard and had scouts looking at him. It’s just too bad.”
Mosbrucker, who had attracted plenty of attention from college and pro scouts this season with a fastball in the 90s, led the Acorns with a 5-2 record and a 3.98 ERA.
He also played right field and hit cleanup for LO, compiling a .400 batting average in TCAL play.
“We’ll be missing one of our big bats in the lineup, too,” Cummins said.
The Acorns are considerably thinner in the pitching staff now, with Eric Nelson, Kyle Ferguson and Doug Porras as the lone remaining full-time regulars, Cummins said.
LO (16-8 overall, 10-3 in TCAL) are in first place by a half game ahead of surging Hollister-San Benito, which has won six of its last seven league games to put itself in contention for the TCAL title.
LO has also been playing solid ball since an upset loss to Salinas two weeks ago.
Last week, the Acorns eliminated both Palma and Gilroy from league title contention, beating the visiting Chieftains 2-1 on a run in the bottom of the seventh inning and downing the host Mustangs 7-4.
The Acorns, who had their home game against last-place North Salinas rained out yesterday for the second time in two weeks, are scheduled to play the Vikings today at 4pm.
On Wednesday, LO will travel to Hollister to take on the Haybalers in a battle for the league title.
If LO beats North Salinas today it would clinch a share of the league title, and would win the title outright with a victory over the ‘Balers.
Cummins said JV call-up Matt Cummins will likely be tabbed to make the start against North Salinas today, with Nelson slated to go against Hollister-SB on Wednesday.
Correction: It was Live Oak sophomore Michael Sorci who slammed the game-winning three-run double to beat host Gilroy 7-4 in a key TCAL matchup on Friday. Sorci, up from the JV, was wearing teammate Ryan Bennett’s No. 15 jersey for the game, according to Cummins. The Times makes a concerted effort to ensure fair and accurate reporting, but errors do occur. It is our policy to acknowledge and correct significant errors promptly. Mistakes should be called to the attention of Editor Walt Glines by calling 779-4106 or e-mailing ed******@mo*************.com
