CHIMACUM — East Jefferson put its ace on the mound and let him rip and Rivals’ sophomore hurler Brody Moore responded, striking out 15 and allowing just four baserunners in a 9-1 win over Charles Wright Academy on Wednesday.
Moore consistently threw first-pitch strikes, worked ahead in the pitch count and mixed his pitches to keep Academy hitters off-balance in a 6 1/3-inning, two-hit performance cut short of a complete game by pitch-count limitations.
“A great pitching performance by Brody Moore today,” coach Ben Lozano said. “He threw very well, and he kept the game pretty much in check and in control until our bats came around for us.”
Teammate Owen Thornton came on and struck out the final two batters, raising the number of Charles Wright strikeouts to 17 out of 21 recorded outs.
After his crisp outing, Moore said he felt great during the game.
“Everything was working, really, especially my curveball was breaking and looking good,” Moore said. “My fastball was there and our hitters did great today.”
East Jefferson did spot Charles Wright one run after an errant throw to first base, an apparent no-call on what looked like a foul tip off a batter’s foot and a passed ball. But the Rivals settled down and added runs offensively over the next three innings.
Gerald Lindsey poked an RBI single into right field to tie the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the second.
“That might have been Gerald’s first hit this year,” Lozano said. “He’s been showing an awful lot of improvement in practice, so we gave him the start and it was nice to see that.”
After Chris Fair reached base on a fielders’ choice in the third, pinch runner Nathan Nisbet came on and stole third and scored on an errant throw to the bag to take the lead.
An Aaron Glanz RBI single then made it 3-1 Rivals.
Big inning seals it
East Jefferson seized complete control with a six-run fourth inning, as the Rivals scored on Nate Nayler’s RBI single, a two-run error, two wild pitches and a steal of home during a rundown on the bases.
“We got into scoring position and were able to take advantage of that. We still could run the bases a little better, so we will work on that before we play Quilcene [today],” Lozano said.
Moore said he was lifted up by the big inning.
“I felt more comfortable. We had a good lead, so I felt good about it,” Moore said.
“This was probably our best game. Our fielding wasn’t great, but we made up for it with the bats.”
East Jefferson 9, Charles Wright 1
CW 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 2 4
EJ 0 0 3 1 0 1 X — 9 7 2
WP: Brody Moore. LP: J. Stice.
Pitching
Charles Wright: Clark 7 IP, 5 R, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 K Stice 3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 BB, 4 K; Caalim 3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K.
East Jefferson: Moore 6.1 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, HB, 15 K; Thornton 0.2 IP, 2 K.
Hitting
East Jefferson: Lindsey 1-2, RBI; Glanz 1-2, HBP, RBI, SB; Nayler 1-3, RBI; Rich 1-1, 2 BB, SB, R.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at mcarman@ peninsuladailynews.com.
