Moore tosses shutout, Eagles blank Oak Ridge

By Brent Shipman

sports@standard-democrat.com

ORAN -- After surrendering a leadoff double to visiting Oak Ridge on Friday, Oran starting pitcher Kody Moore was nearly untouchable.

Through his six innings of service, the senior gave up only one more hit while striking out 11 to pick up his first win of the season in a 5-0 shutout.

"I did alright today," Moore said. "I could spot my fastball at times, but the location was still a little off. My breaking ball in the early innings I couldn't get going real well, but then I got it going and my change up was working as well.

"Overall it was a decent day on the mound. Nowhere near where I need to be, but I'll keep working on it."

Much of Moore's success can be credited to staying ahead in the count to nearly every batter he encountered. Of the 20 batters he faced, 16 was greeter with a first-pitch strike. Moore found the zone on 66 of his 86 pitches on the day.

Oak Ridges' two hits were his only blemishes as he didn't surrender a walk. He retired 10 batters straight at one point.

Also aiding Moore was a flawless performance by the Eagles' defense in the field.

Though Moore was still cruising at the end of the sixth inning, having retired eight straight Blue Jays, the Eagles brought in Hunter Schlosser to start the seventh. Schlosser pitched a perfect final frame to give Oran three wins in its past four games.

"He looked good today," Oran head coach Mitch Wood said about Moore. "Unfortunately he got around 80 pitches and this time of year we just haven't played enough. It's not worth it to us to throw kids a bunch."

At the plate the Eagles' seven-hit effort was aided by four Oak Ridge errors that helped give Oran (5-2) four of their five runs.

Going into the bottom of the third inning still scoreless, the Eagles got things rolling with a single from Seth Ressel, who stole second before advancing to third on a fielder's choice. A line-drive single to right field from Alex Heuring plated Ressel to give Oran a 1-0 lead.

An inning-opening error by the Blue Jays in the fourth would come back to haunt them when Ressel singled in the first run of a three-run Eagles rally. The second two runs came in on a dropped fly ball to right field with two outs to put Oran up 4-0.

The Eagles rounded out their scoring with another run in the fifth that was fueled by a pair of Blue Jay errors and a Schlosser single that put the runner in scoring position.

"We have a lot of youth out there in the outfield and a lot of inexperience with the guys that we have," Oak Ridge head coach Bo Akers said. "But they're coming along and working as hard as they can every day in practice. We'll be there by the end of the year."

Leading Oran's seven-hit attack was Ressel, who was 3 for 3 on the day. He also drew a walk to reach in all four plate appearances while scoring a pair of runs and driving in another.

Heuring also reached in all four at-bats, going 2 for 2 with a couple walks and a run driven in. Schlosser was 2 for 3 with a pair of singles.

For Oak Ridge (2-2), Jake LeGrand contributed a double and Hunter Seyer a single for the team's only two hits.

LeGrand took the loss in the contest despite pitching five innings where he allowed only one earned-run. He gave up six hits and three walks while fanning six on 91 pitches.

"That's his first start of the season," Akers said of LeGrand. "He's our catcher and we needed a third pitcher. He's got a good arm and did a great job for us."

Oak Ridge 000 000 0 - 0 2 4

Oran 001 310 x - 5 7 0

WP -- Kody Moore. LP -- Jake LeGrand. Multiple hitters: (OR) Seth Ressel 3-3, Alex Heuring 2-2, Hunter Schlosser 2-3. 2B -- (OK) Jake LeGrand.