For a sophomore, Live Oak
’s Kyle Mosbrucker had the look of a seasoned veteran in
Tuesday’s key Tri-County Athletic League contest. Mosbrucker hurled
a three-hit shutout to lift the host Acorns past Gilroy 2-0 in the
opener of this week’s home-and-home series. The victory vaulted
Live Oak (6-3 in league, 10-9 overall)
into a second-place tie with the Mustangs in the TCAL standings
behind first-place Palma.
For a sophomore, Live Oak’s Kyle Mosbrucker had the look of a seasoned veteran in Tuesday’s key Tri-County Athletic League contest.
Mosbrucker hurled a three-hit shutout to lift the host Acorns past Gilroy 2-0 in the opener of this week’s home-and-home series.
The victory vaulted Live Oak (6-3 in league, 10-9 overall) into a second-place tie with the Mustangs in the TCAL standings behind first-place Palma.
The top two finishers in league receive automatic Central Coast Section playoff berths.
“This was a huge outing for us,” Live Oak coach Mark Cummins said. “For a sophomore, (Mosbrucker) pitched really well. He kept them off-balance the whole game.”
Live Oak and Gilroy hook up in this week’s series finale on Friday at 4 p.m. at Gilroy High.
But Mosbrucker’s gem puts the pressure squarely on the Mustangs heading into Friday’s game.
If the Acorns win again, they would win the season series between the two teams and hold the tiebreaker if the teams finished with the same league record.
On Tuesday, Mosbrucker was nearly untouchable after a shaky start.
After allowing the Gilroy leadoff batter to reach base in each of the first three innings, the lanky Acorn hurler settled down in the middle to late innings.
Mosbrucker’s fastball got stronger as the game wore on, as he retired 13 of the last 14 Mustang batters, including the last seven straight to end the game.
“This was really big because we just came off a tournament where we were 1-3 and we needed to get back on track in league,” Mosbrucker said.
After starting out 4-0 in league play, Live Oak had lost three of its last four TCAL games including two straight to Palma to fall into third place.
In last week’s West Coast Classic, the Acorns lost three straight one-run decisions before winning its tourney finale, 8-2 over the league rival Chieftains.
Gilroy skipper Clint Wheeler said his team just couldn’t make the most out of limited opportunities against Mosbrucker and put itself behind the eight-ball as a result.
“We had a couple of chances early but when you don’t manufacture runs and you let (a one-run lead) sit there, it can end up turning into a loss,” Wheeler said. “The pressure is definitely on us now.”
Meanwhile, Gilroy junior starting pitcher Carlos Garcia was nearly as effective as his counterpart, limiting the Acorn offense to three hits and a single unearned run through the first five innings.
Live Oak took advantage of a Gilroy miscue to take a 1-0 lead off Garcia in the first inning.
Acorn leadoff man Andrew Cummins reached on an infield single, but was erased on Doug Porras’ fielder’s choice.
Porras stole second and moved to third on Dave Newton’s flyball to right, then scored when Steve Conner’s two-out grounder to third was muffed.
After that, Garcia held the Acorns off until the bottom of the sixth when Newton led off with a triple into the right-centerfield alley.
Garcia got the next two outs, but Chase Perez smacked a two-out RBI single to plate Newton and provide the winning margin.
Gilroy had much less success cashing in on its scoring chances.
In the first inning, sophomore second baseman Josh Sterling led off by reaching on an error and stole second to move into scoring position. But Mosbrucker retired the next three batters to quell the rally.
In the second inning, sophomore catcher Chris Hernandez led off with an infield single, but was erased on a line-drive double-play.
Again in the third, senior outfielder Ron Colmon started things off with a solid single to center and stole second. But he ended up getting tagged out in a rundown between second and third on a comebacker to the pitcher.
“Velocity hurts us,” Wheeler said. “We’re younger, and we tend to get overmatched sometimes.”
Cummins said Live Oak will go with senior starter Eric Abbott in Friday’s game.
According to Wheeler, Gilroy will counter with sophomore starter Jeremy Teschera.
