Live Oak dominated visiting Mt. Pleasant 13-2 Tuesday for its third straight win. The Acorns now look forward to visit Silver Creek, whom they are tied with for second place in Santa Teresa League as Live Oak zeroes in on a possible playoff berth.
“Silver Creek has been on our minds for at least two weeks now,” said pitcher Aaron Armijo. “But once we got on the field today, all that mattered was Mt. Pleasant. Once the game was over, the next opponent is Silver Creek. That’s going to be the tie breaker, so that’s definitely what we’re hunting for.”
As for Tuesday’s game, Live Oak didn’t underestimate Mt. Pleasant.
“We didn’t look past Mt. Pleasant,” said Live Oak Coach C.J. Goularte. “Our goal today was to come out here and compete against today’s opponent and do the best we can.”
Live Oak’s bats came alive for all but one inning. Armijo kept Mt. Pleasant’s relatively silent except for the fourth and sixth inning when they were able to earn one run in each frame.
“I got my curve ball working today,” said Armijo. “Once I got my curve ball down around the second inning, I kept throwing it. It was working.”
With wild pitches and errors in the field, Live Oak was able to capitalize on the mistakes. Leading 6-0 after the third inning, Live Oak put itself in a good position to win. Those three innings were highlighted by Jalen Salazar’s RBI double up the middle which brought in two base runners in the first. Then Ben Nuno’s ground-rule double preceded John Forestieri's RBI triple.
The Cardinals awakened in the fourth when Jorge Garcia hit a single and immediately stole second. He tagged up after a pop fly was caught for the second out of the inning.
The Acorns dominated in their half of the fourth. With the bases loaded, Salazar walked to force in a run. Zach Riveron then hit a single, knocking in two runs. Kyle Quadros then knocked in a run and Michael Porras was given a free base due to catcher's interference. Nuno then hit a double to drive in two runs.
The Acorns also added two runs in the fifth for a little insurance, more than off-setting a single run by Mt. Pleasant in the seventh.
After taking care of business against Mt. Pleasant, Live Oak came back Thursday to defeat Silver Creek, 5-2, in the much anticipated showdown for second place. The Acorns (13-11, 8-4 BVAL-ST) moved into second place in the Blossom Valley Athletic League Santa Teresa Division and would earn the division's second automatic bid if the season ended today.
Mt. Pleasant (9-9, 4-8) lost 11-3 to Evergreen Valley Thursday.
Said Goularte: "We’re very excited with the opportunity we put ourselves in. (We need to) make sure we pay attention to the details and do all the little things that we’ve been doing which have given us the opportunity to be in this situation.”
