Moore earns win, brownie points in Oran baseball team's Class 1 sectional victory over Cooter

ORAN, Mo. -- Kody Moore earned his postgame brownies Monday.

The Oran junior's grandmother bakes brownies for the team after every game, and Moore did plenty at the plate and on the mound to earn his postgame treats.

Moore didn't allow a hit over 3 2/3 innings in relief and smashed a home run in the Eagles' 6-3 Class 1 baseball sectional victory over Cooter.

Oran catcher Alex Heuring came over looking for his brownie as Moore answered questions after the contest.

"He don't get a brownie," Moore said, which sent a dejected Heuring retreating to the dugout.

Moore finished answering questions before heading to the dugout with his plastic container of brownies, but quickly was stopped by coach Mitch Wood, who hit up his pitcher for one of the brownies with a line about getting the first brownie because that's a tradition when the Eagles win.

"That's the best game he's pitched all year, I'm telling you that right now," Wood said about Moore after securing his brownie.

Wood called on Moore with the game hanging in the balance in the fourth inning. Oran starter Dalton Elfrink experienced little trouble through the first three innings before delivering eight consecutive balls to open the fourth inning.

Brandon Bridges then laid down a sacrifice bunt, but Heuring's throw to first sailed down the first-base line, which allowed the Wildcats to cut Oran's lead to 4-1.

A sacrifice fly and a single trimmed Oran's lead to 4-3 with runners on first and second with one out.

"I just kind of lost it," Elfrink said. "I was throwing high and had a tight strike zone. I couldn't maneuver it."

Elfrink went to a 3-1 count on Cooter's No. 9 batter, Melvin Cummings, when Wood decided he'd seen enough. He brought in Moore to pitch midway through Cummings' at-bat.

"We do that a lot as far as bringing people in just because I feel like I want to give them a chance to see a hitter there at the end," Wood said. "If he walks him, no big deal. I hadn't warmed him up any, so it helped him to do that."

Moore didn't flinch at being called on during an at-bat.

"Coach does what he needs to do to get the win," he said. "That's what I like about him. He's ain't afraid to bring someone in with three balls and one strike. He ain't afraid to take anyone out with the game on the line. That's what I like about him. I guess his move paid off today."

Moore got Cummings to ground out to first before issuing a walk to load the bases with two outs. He struck out Jesse Rayburn to end the threat and keep Oran's lead intact at 4-3.

"We had a key base hit, and it looked like we were going to get back in the game," Cooter coach Allen Crawford said.

Moore provided a little breathing room in the fifth inning when he walloped a curveball over the left-field wall to lead off the inning.

"I did not know it was gone," he said. "I hit it and I knew I hit it solid, but I knew the wind was blowing in today. I took off as hard as I could. When I rounded first, I looked out there and I seen the left fielder, he kind of stopped before the fence. Then he kept running and he was at the fence. I didn't know what was going on. Then when I heard the crowd go crazy, I got pretty excited then."

Moore raised his right fist in the air as he trotted from first base to second after realizing the ball had carried over the fence.

"He roped that ball," Wood said. "The wind was blowing and I mean it bit the wind and knocked it. That ball was hit."

The Eagles added another run in the inning when Elfrink collected his third hit of the game, which scored Blake Carlyle.

"They cut the lead down to one right there and they obviously after that, the momentum was on their side," Moore said. "We did a good job of coming in and hitting the ball and basically taking their momentum away and getting it back on our side."

Cooter (19-6) failed to mount a threat after that. Moore gave a little fist pump after striking out Patrick Ward on a 3-2 fastball for the first out in the seventh. Another fist pump followed his strikeout of Rayburn for the second out.

Moore worked two strikes on Jordan Anderson before wiping his brow with his right arm then his left. He gripped the ball and unleashed another fastball, which Anderson waved at to end the game. This time Moore went with a big fist pump as his teammates joined him near the first-base line to celebrate.

"I knew that all we needed was three outs and we had a three-run lead," Moore said about the seventh inning. "I felt very comfortable. I just threw the ball. I just did what I knew how to do."

The Eagles (18-8) struck early against Anderson, Cooter's hard-throwing right-hander. Elfrink plated two runs with a two-out single in the first before Chance Tenkhoff and Moore delivered hits to knock in a run apiece in the second for a 4-0 lead. That ended Anderson's day on the mound.

"His velocity was good," Crawford said about Anderson. "He had 100 percent velocity, but he couldn't throw a breaking pitch. After that second inning, we decided to get him out because even as hard as he throws, they can zero-in on a fastball. He did not throw a breaking pitch for a strike."

Elfrink and Moore managed to silence Cooter's offense. The Wildcats only collected one hit -- Tyler Thornton's single up the middle in the fourth against Elfrink. The two Eagles pitchers walked eight but struck out six.

"Our defense played well today," Moore said. "I think we balanced it out equally with getting the defense involved and striking people out. Really everybody was involved today and everybody did their job. Really we were just throwing strikes and hitting our spots."

Oran advanced to a rematch against Naylor in the state quarterfinal round. The teams will play for a trip to the final four at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Naylor. Oran scored five runs in the seventh inning to beat Naylor 14-13 in last year's state quarterfinal.

Cooter 000 300 0 -- 3 1 2

Oran 220 020 x -- 6 9 1

WP -- Kody Moore. LP -- Jordan Anderson. HR -- Moore (O). 2B -- Blake Carlyle (O), Chance Tenkhoff (O). Multiple hits -- Oran: Dalton Elfrink 3-3, Moore 2-2, Bear Hicks 2-3. Records -- Cooter 19-6, Oran 18-8.

Dustin Ward of the Daily Dunklin Democrat contributed to this report.