Morgan Hill
– There’s an old baseball adage, born of the sport’s obeisance
to the law of averages, that warns the high-scoring team to
”
save a couple of runs for the next game.
”
Morgan Hill – There’s an old baseball adage, born of the sport’s obeisance to the law of averages, that warns the high-scoring team to “save a couple of runs for the next game.” As nearly preposterous as that concept is in reality, the Gilroy High baseball team probably wishes it could have saved a few runs from Tuesday’s blowout win over rival Live Oak for Thursday’s rematch between the two league frontrunners.
Alas, that wasn’t possible, and the Mustangs ended up falling 5-0 to the suddenly efficient Acorns and pitcher Kyle Ferguson at Live Oak High.
“I expected it,” Gilroy head coach Clint Wheeler said. “Those guys are going to come back at you, and come back even harder.”
The Mustangs only managed five hits against Ferguson, a junior who struck out four and was backed by a solid Acorn defense that struggled in the first match-up between the two teams. The loss dropped the ‘Stangs (5-2 in league, 10-7 overall) out of a short-lived first-place tie with Live Oak (6-1, 11-6) atop the Tri-County Athletic League standings.
But Wheeler said his team is in fine position just short of the halfway point of its TCAL schedule.
“We’re in second place with half our league games left,” Wheeler said. We’re still in control of our own destiny.”
In fact, Gilroy’s remaining schedule appears to give it an edge. While rivals Live Oak, which plays league contender Palma on Friday, and Hollister do battle next week, the ‘Stangs play a pair against also-ran Salinas and a make-up game against cellar-dweller North Salinas. After that, the league will transition from its weekly home-and-home sets to the single-game stretch run.
In Thursday’s game, Gilroy actually started off quickly against Ferguson, with the top of lineup – Josh Sterling and Drew Andersen – reaching on singles. But the next three Mustang batters went down to end the inning, and that early sign of offensive life would prove to be nearly half Gilroy’s total in the hit department.
Live Oak opened the scoring with four runs in the bottom of the first inning against GHS starter Carlos Garcia. An RBI single by Andrew Cummins, a two-run triple by Kyle Mosbrucker and a sacrifice fly by Shayne Christman did the job. The Acorns added a run in the third.
Gilroy managed an infield hit by Sterling in the third inning but he was erased on a double play, and the ‘Stangs wouldn’t get another hit until Andersen’s two-out single in the sixth. Andersen was caught stealing for the third out of the inning.
The Mustangs loaded the bases in the top of the seventh inning but two fly balls and a two-out looping liner to right by Matt Gallindo were caught.
