GILROY — The Cougars have been the comeback kids all season and Friday was no different.
Live Oak jumped out to an early lead, but Christopher was able to fight its way back to an 8-5 victory at Gavilan.
“They’re just very resilient,” Cougars coach Ryan Dequin said. “They’re coming back and they’re just fighting. They’re always looking for a situation where they’re moving somebody up unselfishly — they’re playing unselfish baseball.”
Both teams struggled defensively, combining for nine errors in the game. Christopher took full advantage of Live Oak’s mistakes as it only needed four hits in the game to win.
“We’ve been making a lot of mistakes defensively and they’re hurting us,” Live Oak coach C.J. Goularte said. “This is not an 8-5 ball game, in their favor, if we don’t make five errors. …The last couple games we’ve made a lot of mistakes defensively. Our pitchers are doing a decent job, but it’s tough to pitch with those kinds of mistakes behind you.”
The Acorns jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second, but Christopher answered with three runs in the top the third to take the lead.
Live Oak’s Justin Sanders reached on a single in the bottom of the fourth and got himself in scoring position off a Mitch Hickey double down the left field line. Sanders was able to score on a wild pitch to tie the game, but that was the closest the Acorns would get to Christopher for the rest of the game.
Hickey went 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI, while Sander was 1 for 4 with a run and a walk. Kyle Quadros was 2 for 4 with two runs and a stolen base.
Despite being down, Live Oak never gave up. Christopher scattered five runs over the fifth and sixth innings and the Acorns scored a run a piece in the bottom of the fourth and seventh innings. They stranded two to end the game, but Goularte said he was proud of his team’s fight.
“In this game, as long you have a chance to hit, they have to get you out. That’s the best part about baseball is there’s no clock,” he said. “You always have a fighting chance as long as you have outs the other team has to make on you. That’s all we ever really talk about. If you have a chance, you’re going to find a way.”
Christopher Tyler Fhurong went 0 for 4, but drove in two RBIs off two sacrifice flies. Ralphy Ortega went 1 for 1 with two runs, a stolen base and a walk.
While falling behind early could’ve discouraged the Cougars, Fhurong said their coach helped them regroup to pull out the win.
“He just told us to keep our heads up, to focus, to talk more in the game because we were very quiet getting off the field,” Fhurong said. “He just told us to hustle and everything and finally get it going.”
Christopher will be back on the diamond at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Salinas. Live Oak will host Mt. Pleasant at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
