GHS baseball erases six-run deficit for 7-6 victory over Live
Oak
GILROY – Head coach Clint Wheeler knew his ball club needed clutch performances from two players – senior Ben Hemeon and junior Peter Mickartz – for the Mustangs to have a shot at beating rival Live Oak.
That’s exactly what he got, as the Mustangs erased a six-run deficit Friday and went on to defeat the Acorns in eight innings, 7-6.
Hemeon (2-for-3, 2-run HR, 1B, BB, HBP) did it with the bat – belting a key two-run, game-tying homer in the sixth inning to force extra frames and then scoring the game-winning run after getting hit by a pitch to lead off the eighth inning.
Mickartz (6 1/3 IP, 4 Ks, 2 ER) did it on the mound – relieving struggling starter Anthony Lucio with two outs in the second inning and allowing only two more runs on five hits to keep Gilroy within reach. His fly ball to right field in the eighth also scored Hemeon.
“I didn’t think we had much of a chance if (Hemeon) did not come through, and he did today,” Wheelers said. “(Mickartz) is another guy I said we needed for our stretch run. We needed him to come through. That’s the best he’s pitched all year, and we needed it.”
After getting shut out 2-0 in Tuesday’s series opener in Morgan Hill to fall into a second-place tie with the Acorns, Gilroy (7-3 in T-CAL, 13-5 overall) re-claimed sole possession of the second spot, one game ahead of Live Oak (6-4, 10-10).
“We knew Gilroy was going to battle us. No lead is safe against them. You have to give Gilroy credit for battling back,” Live Oak skipper Mark Cummins said. “It was a good high school ball game. Both teams battled. It was very competitive, but you can’t give up a six-run lead like that.”
With league-leading Palma (8-2, 16-7) losing 7-6 to Hollister on Friday, the Mustangs moved within one game of first place. Gilroy split its opening series with the Chieftains and will host them May 4 for one of its final five league games. (Each T-CAL team plays a two-game series against one another the first time through and then the teams play single games to close out the schedule.)
Live Oak was swept in its two games against Palma, but will play the Chieftains on May 6 and then finish off the regular season with a May 10 home game against the Mustangs.
“Obviously, after getting the first game, we wanted the sweep. Hopefully, Palma lost to Hollister,” said Cummins before hearing of the Palma-Hollister outcome. “If they did, we’re still in it. We’ve just got to finish games and play better.”
The Acorns, who looked poised for the sweep, built a six-run lead on Gilroy with two-run surges in the first, second and fourth innings.
After escaping a trouble-filled first inning, Lucio – one of Gilroy’s most reliable starters this season – could not get out of the second. Wheeler wasted little time bringing in Mickartz, who got the first batter he faced to ground out with runners at the corners.
“I just knew the scouting report. (Wheeler) told us fastballs in and deuces all day. That’s pretty much what I did and it worked,” Mickartz said.
But the Gilroy bats could not get to Acorn senior starter Eric Abbott, who was in control through the first three innings.
After coming up empty with runners on the corners in the third, the Mustangs connected for two-run rallies in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings to tie the score at 6-6.
Junior designated hitter Carlos Garcia, who went the distance but took the loss as the starting pitcher in Tuesday’s loss to Live Oak, and Lucio (2-for-3) belted back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 6-2.
Mickartz retired the Acorns in order in the top of the fifth, and Gilroy scored two more runs in the bottom of the inning without getting a hit. The Live Oak bullpen walked four – balking in one run and then forcing in another to trim the gap to 6-4.
Live Oak could not get its lumber going in the top of the sixth, held scoreless by Mickartz, and then Hemeon made the Acorns pay for a lead-off walk to sophomore Drew Anderson with a 360-foot jack over the fence in left-center field.
“Huge,” said Wheeler of Hemeon’s fifth home run of the season. “He makes great adjustments. He’s much more selective. He went from being an OK player last season to possibly a (Division-I) hitter this year. He’s made huge, huge strides.”
Hemeon is two homers shy of tying the single-season record. He is also on pace to break several other single-season school records with a .500 batting average and more than 40 runs-batted-in.
Gilroy completed its comeback in the eighth inning. After Mickartz got out of a bases-loaded jam in the top half, Hemeon took a pitch off the shoulder from Live Oak closer David Newton to get on base. Newton then intentionally walked Mark Gonzales and issued a free pass to Chris Hernandez to load the bases with no outs. Mickartz ended the game with a fly ball to right field that was dropped and brought home Hemeon.
“I think we took a huge step forward to being a tougher team today. We came up with the clutch hits,” Wheeler said. “These kind of games are what develop character. The guys have been tested. I think it will help us down the stretch with five games to go.”
“It should be a lot of fun,” Mickartz said. “Hopefully, we’ll win out.”
Up next, Gilroy will play back-to-back road games at Salinas High on Wednesday at 4 p.m. and at San Benito High on Saturday at 10 a.m.
