Stretch runs start now
MORGAN HILL — The figurative snowball that is today’s matchup between Live Oak and Sobrato began its journey down El Toro last spring, building up as the schools’ baseball programs achieved more success than in any previous season.
Live Oak parlayed a second straight Mount Hamilton Division championship into a run to its first section title, and Sobrato captured the Santa Teresa Division pennant outright, jumping to the Mount Hamilton superclass.
The 2008 prep baseball season can be considered the greatest in Morgan Hill history — but it was one game too short.
The Acorns and Bulldogs never played each other.
“It took something away from it,” Sobrato’s Ryan Williams said. “They beat us in football this year; we beat them in basketball twice. But baseball, baseball is just different. It’s like nothing else in this town.”
The epilogue to last season and the crescendo of two thrilling 2009 campaigns will come into fold this afternoon, when the cross-town rivals play the first of three division contests at 3:30 p.m. at Sarich Field. It marks the start of the stretch run for both teams, who will meet again Thursday at Sobrato High School and May 14 at Live Oak to end the regular season.
“We started talking about it at the beginning of the year,” Live Oak senior Gabriel Mancias said. “Since it’s our last series, it’s a big one. We’ve got to end strong.”
This week’s series has much more than bragging rights at stake. With nine league games remaining, Live Oak (13-7 overall, 7-5 league) is alone in second place in the division standings – two games behind front-runner Santa Teresa — while the Bulldogs (11-10, 6-6) lie three games out of first in a three-way tie for third.
“I think they’re looking forward to this,” Mark Cummins, now in his 23rd year as coach of the Acorns, said. “Those are two big games for us in the standings. We want to give ourselves a shot, a chance of winning another championship. That’s our goal. We have to keep pace with Santa Teresa. We play them next week.”
Only the division’s top four finishers receive automatic section-playoff berths.
“The way we see it, if we sweep, we’re in second by ourselves and we put ourselves in a good position of separating from the teams from the bottom,” Sobrato fifth-year coach Ulises “Shorty” Gutierrez said. “Every game is basically a playoff game from here on out.
“A sweep this week would be a big step in getting to our goal of making the top four. It’s definitely possible.”
Both teams feel some added pressure. The Acorns, winners of 14 division championships, are coming off their best season in program history. That, and they play for the elder school.
“We try to just come out here and play baseball like anybody else,” Live Oak catcher Tony Austin said. “They’re putting on uniforms; we’re putting on uniforms and playing baseball — that’s it. But it will definitely feel different when we get out there. It’ll be intense from start to finish.”
For Sobrato, a win would further show there’s more than one baseball school in Morgan Hill.
“When people think of baseball here, they think of Live Oak,” Billy Birrell, a Sobrato senior, said. “If we do win this series, people’s ideas of what school is what could change. They’ll think Sobrato is the baseball school. They beat Live Oak.”
The Acorns are coming off a 9-8 victory over King City, but are still hurting from last week’s 7-6 loss to Gilroy, Live Oak’s oldest rival.
“The Gilroy loss makes this bigger,” Mancias said. “Gilroy is our old rival, and we had them beat. We have to win this one. We’re expected to.”
Mancias alluded to the Morgan Hill Times’ online poll, which, before the season, asked which team would fare better in 2009. Live Oak won by convincing margin. Both sides said a three-game series should put the debate to rest.
“If you take 2 of 3, that proves you’re better, no question,” Shea Adams of the Bulldogs said.
Measuring strengths and weaknesses, the teams outweigh each other on opposite ends. Live Oak is averaging more runs per game, but Sobrato boasts one of the best rotations in the division. Williams (4-2), Adams (3-1) and Chris Bradley have pitched three complete games apiece, with Bradley tossing the program’s first no-hitter April 11.
“They have a lot of good athletes; good pitching and a lot of pitching depth,” Cummins said.
Live Oak counters with the top closer in the league, Connor Sutton (6-1), plus a lineup that’s averaging .312. Seven Acorns are batting better than .300, including Alika Bantilan who has belted a division-best four home runs this year, according to MaxPreps.com.
Live Oak also has shown an uncanny knack for winning close games. The Acorns have come from behind in seven of their victories.
“They got a bunch of big hitters,” Adams said. “They’ve been scoring some runs.”
Live Oak certainly did that in the schools’ only previous meetings. The Acorns blind sided the Bulldogs 18-2 and 14-0 in 2006, when both teams played in the Tri County Athletic League.
“That’s when we had only sophomores and freshman,” Gutierrez said. “We took our beatings. It’s time for revenge now.”
