When a fluky play in the first and a timely hit put Live Oak in a 2-1 hole after three innings, the Acorns rallied together and found a way against Mt. Pleasant.
Damon Rodriguez stole home in the fourth, Kyle Riveron scored on mishandled ball in center field hit off the bat of Chris Knopf in the fifth and finally, a big inning in the sixth put the game away.
Live Oak extended its season one more game thanks to a 6-2 win over the Cardinals on the backs of solid play on the base paths and a fantastic one-two-punch from Andrew Lopez and Knopf on the bump.
“I think the intensity of CCS kept them going, kept them up and I think both teams were a little nervous at the beginning and it showed,” said coach Matt Brotherton. “We didn’t play real well (at first). There were some easy plays that were made into mistakes, but once we got going—once the nerves got down—we played a lot better. Still it wasn’t a great game by us, but it was enough to get the win.”
Lopez gave up two runs in four innings of work, but the first run scored as the result of a wild pitch and a passed ball. He gave up the one RBI hit, but struck out seven against walking two before giving way to Knopf.
And Knopf was nothing short of brilliant.
A walk in the fifth was his only blemish as he retired nine of the 10 batters he faced, striking out four.
Brotherton didn’t mince words, saying that effort won Live Oak the game.
“When you bring in a pitcher at the end of the game and he doesn’t give up anything. He just shut it down. It was great. He did a great job,” Brotherton said. “He led our league in ERA with a 0.83. It wasn’t anything he didn’t do all year.”
And behind both pitchers was a consistent effort from the offense that peppered the Mt. Pleasant pitchers the whole day, never going down in order in any one inning.
“What got us here was playing good solid baseball. Doing what we know how to do. Staying within ourselves, staying within our abilities and executing,” Brotherton said.
Alex Cornejo got things rolling when he reached on an error to lead off the first, went to second on a sac bunt from Jacob Ryder and finally scored on a double from Riveron.
Riveron went 3-4, scored once and drove in three runs, including two in the sixth to cap the three-run inning.
After tying the game, Live Oak went down 2-1 after back-to-back one-out singles put Mt. Pleasant back on top.
But that was as much as the Cardinals would get.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez led off the fourth with a single and stole second before being bunted over by Gavin Vallez.
Rodriguez then got his chance, stealing home to tie the game at 2-all.
Riveron then got Live Oak its first lead of the day when he singled and stole second to lead off the fifth.
After two quick outs, Knopf hit a ball into center field that was mishandled by the Cardinal shortstop, allowing Riveron to score.
Finally, in the sixth, Seth Conforti hit a one out single and advanced on an error.
That allowed Cornejo to drive him home with a single to left.
After Ryder followed with a single of his own, Riveron got the big hit of the day when he doubled to the left field wall, bringing home Ryder and Cornejo.
Live Oak will next face Terra Nova
