Gilroy
– An ugly sky moving in from the north foretold doom for Gilroy
High’s shot at the TCAL baseball title, as northern rival Live Oak
knocked the home side out of contention with a 7-4 win.
As dark clouds threatened, Live Oak’s Ryan Bennett hammered a
two-out, three-run double off the leftfield fence in the top of the
sixth inning to break open a see-saw game that had been tied at
4-4.
Gilroy – An ugly sky moving in from the north foretold doom for Gilroy High’s shot at the TCAL baseball title, as northern rival Live Oak knocked the home side out of contention with a 7-4 win.
As dark clouds threatened, Live Oak’s Ryan Bennett hammered a two-out, three-run double off the leftfield fence in the top of the sixth inning to break open a see-saw game that had been tied at 4-4.
Gilroy’s Joe Cano, on the mound in relief of starter Peter Mickartz surrendered the Bennett double, which scored Shaun Standridge, Doug Porras and Bryce Wilson.
Porras, pitching after an injury to starter Kyle Mosbrucker, worked a scintillating sixth and seventh innings to clinch the win.
Gilroy had taken a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning, with Mickartz and catcher Chris Hernandez scoring after Marty Sustaita’s hard hit ball to Shayne Christman was misplayed by the Acorn third baseman for a two-base error.
But that was the last piece of offense the Mustangs were able to muster.
Down by three runs in the sixth, Mickartz struck out swinging on a high fastball from Porras with no outs and men on first and second.
Porras then got a grounder from Hernandez that Live Oak was able to turn into a double play, leaving Gilroy’s Dominick Wilkins and Drew Andersen stranded on the basepaths.
In the seventh, with the rain on its way, Mickartz reached on an error, but Porras was able to set the next three Mustang batters down in order to clinch the win for the Acorns.
“It was a good game,” said Wilkins. “It just seemed like we ran out of gas in the end.”
The extent of Mosbrucker’s arm injury, suffered on a wild pitch in the third inning that Mickartz scored on to make it 2-1 for Gilroy, was not known immediately after the game.
The Live Oak ace’s father, Jay Mosbrucker, was in attendance and spoke to his son after the injury.
“He said it was just sore,” the elder Mosbrucker said. “He said it felt like it did after he broke his arm when he was 12.
“We’ll have it looked at and go from there.”
Gilroy is now 15-11 overall and 9-5 in TCAL.
The Mustangs face Salinas at home on May 11 in their final regular season game. Live Oak (16-8/11-3) plays at Hollister (21-7/10-4) in their last TCAL game, in a matchup that will determine the league champion.
Gilroy can still finish in a tie for second-place.
