Freshman debuts in Oran baseball team's win over Leopold

ORAN, Mo. -- Kody Moore's high school pitching debut started earlier than expected.

The Oran freshman relieved Eagles starter Zac Chasteen after two innings because Chasteen's arm was bothering him.

Moore didn't disappoint.

The right-hander fired five innings of three-hit ball, which allowed Oran to rally for a 7-3 victory over Leopold on Monday.

"He did a good job," Oran coach Mitch Wood said of Moore. "We've been watching him for the last two or three years coming up. I can't say I was surprised. He's done that all the way up. I was glad he got his feet wet today."

Oran pitcher Kody Moore picks off a Leopold runner at first base during the sixth inning Monday in Oran, Mo. (LAURA SIMON)

Moore retired the first seven batters he faced, including striking out the side in the fourth inning.

"I was a little nervous going in," Moore said. "But after I got the first outs under my belt, I felt good."

Moore struck out seven and walked two. He allowed one run, which was unearned.

"It felt good today," he said. "I was just throwing it. I was sticking with mainly my fastball. I threw a few curveballs in there to get them off balance a little bit. But mostly my fastball was working today."

Moore even showed the poise of a seasoned hurler during the sixth inning. Leopold's Ryan Davis reached on an error then Robert Brown was credited with a single after the Oran right fielder overran a fly ball. Moore got Lance Seiler to ground a tailor-made double play ball to second base, but the Eagles bobbled the ball and couldn't get an out. Davis scored on the play. But Moore shook off the shaky defense. He picked off Seiler from first base then struck out the next two batters.

"I knew my defense would back me up," Moore said. "I was ready to get them another ground ball or fly ball. If I had to, I would take it myself, but I knew my defense had me."

Moore entered in the third inning with his team trailing 2-0. Leopold struck for a pair in the second on an RBI groundout by Joe Elfrink and a run-scoring single by Ben Seiler.

Dalton Elfrink pulled the Eagles within a run by singling home Trenton Hency in the third, but Davis, Leopold's starter, limited Oran's chances early.

"He's got a good two-seamer," Leopold coach Jacob Greten said of Davis. "We worked on him being able to come in on the guys. He's got confidence in his fastball. He got a little erratic sometimes with the other stuff, but he's got a good fastball. He's got good movement on it and was able to take advantage of it."

The Eagles finally got to Davis in the fifth inning. Davis retired the first batter in the inning but the next seven batters reached safely. The big blow was Chasteen's two-run screamer past the third baseman to score a pair and give the Eagles their first lead.

"It felt good," Chasteen said. "It was my first hit of the year."

Adam Schaefer added a two-run single to pad Oran's lead. The Eagles touched up Davis for six runs on three hits, three walks and an error in the inning.

"As the innings went on, you could tell he started wearing down and lost a little bit of control," Moore said of Davis. "He was throwing a lot of pitches up and we just took advantage when he put it in there."

Oran struggled to score runs last year, and Wood hopes Monday's outing is a sign of good things to come for his team's batters.

"I think we're going to string some hits together," Wood said. "I think we probably in certain situations we would have bunted a little earlier than we did, but we're trying to get our offense going a little bit, trying to get some of the kids at the bottom of the order hitting. You'll see a lot more bunting out of us than you seen today."

Leopold 020 001 0 -- 3 6 1

Oran 001 060 x -- 7 4 2

WP -- Kody Moore. LP -- Ryan Davis. Multiple hits -- Leopold: Davis 2-3. Records -- Leopold 1-1, Oran 2-0.