Live Oak baseball captured its 14th league title Friday with a performance that was testament to the Acorns' season - and program.
With solid pitching, consistent hitting and well-tuned defense, Live Oak blanked Santa Teresa at Sarich Field, winning 8-0 to secure a share of the Mount Hamilton Division championship.
Leigh won the other half of the Blossom Valley Athletic League's top conference with a 10-2 win over Westmont, also Friday. Having swept Live Oak in the season series, Leigh held a tie-breaker for CIF-Central Coast Section playoff seeding. The Acorns (22-7 overall, 17-4 BVAL) still will host their first-round game against Half Moon Bay at 4 p.m. Wednesday - the start of Live Oak's 17th straight playoff appearance.
Half Moon Bay won part of a three-way championship in the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division with Terra Nova and Carlmont. For Live Oak, Friday's win was a much-needed momentum push, coach Mark Cummins said in a statement.
"Half Moon Bay is a good team," Cummins added. "They score a lot of runs, so we are going to have to play good defense."
The Acorns did for the most part against Santa Teresa despite committing three errors. They got plenty of lift from their ace pitcher Matthew Cummins, who pitched a complete-game five-hitter, ending the regular season at 8-3. Cummins dropped his ERA to 1.74, striking out eight batters, walking one and tallying his sixth complete game of the year. Live Oak's offense honored the effort, scoring one run in the first, second, fourth and sixth innings and four in the third. The Acorns collected 11 hits.
"It was really nice to see our offense score some runs early in the game," Mark Cummins said. "The way Matthew was pitching, we knew a few runs would probably hold up."
Cummins drove in three RBIs and went 1-for-4 batting. Tony Austin added two runs on two his in three plate appearances, and Steven Rodriguez doubled and went 2 for 3 with a run, both for Live Oak.
The Acorns' leadoff man, Stephen Smith, provided three runs while finishing a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. Smith went 4 for 4 with a single, two doubles and a triple.
"Stephen Smith really gave us a spark at the top of the order with his four-hit game and scoring three runs," Mark Cummins added.
Also for Live Oak, Adam Perez and Mike Devine scored; and Tim O'Rourke, Alika Bantilan, Devine, Rodriguez and Perez drove in runs.
The Acorns won five of their last seven games to end the season and are ready to begin quest for the program's first CIF-Central Coast Section championship.
"We're excited about the opportunity ahead of us," Cummins said. "If we play the type of baseball we're capable of, we will be very successful."
Scott Adams Scott Adams covers Morgan Hill sports for South Valley Newspapers. Send him an email or call him at 779-4106.
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Legend of the fall
