After 2-0 loss, Gilroy baseball drops into second-place tie with
Live Oak
MORGAN HILL – Pitching wins championships, but you must score runs to win.
That old sports adage was never so true as during Tuesday’s pivotal Tri-County Athletic League contest between the Gilroy and Live Oak High baseball teams.
Despite an outstanding effort by junior starting pitcher Carlos Garcia, the visiting Mustangs couldn’t muster so much as a single run in a 2-0 loss at Live Oak’s Sarich Field.
Garcia spotted his fastball effectively and kept the Live Oak batters off-balance for most of the game, allowing just one unearned run on three hits through the first five innings.
But the Gilroy batters could not connect off Acorn sophomore starting pitcher Kyle Mosbrucker, who surpassed Garcia’s performance by tossing a complete-game, three-hit shutout.
The loss dropped Gilroy into a second-place tie with Live Oak in the T-CAL Standings at 6-3 behind first-place Palma. The Mustangs and Acorns hook up in the finale of this week’s home-and-home series on Friday in Gilroy at 4 p.m.
Gilroy skipper Clint Wheeler said his team just couldn’t make the most out of their limited opportunities.
“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.”
“This should have put us in the lead,” Garcia added. “Now, we have to battle.”
Gilroy got its leadoff batter on in each of the first three innings against Live Oak, but couldn’t cash in.
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.
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.
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. Garcia had Gilroy’s only base hit, a single to left in the fifth inning.
Mosbrucker’s effort may have ended the Acorns recent slump in which they lost three out of their last four T-CAL games to sink into third place.
“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 added.
Live Oak took a 1-0 lead on an unearned run 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. Porras then scored when Steve Conner’s grounder to third was muffed.
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.
“The bats had gone silent and that would have given them a boost (to keep Newton from scoring),” Cummins said.
