By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
MOODY — The Blue Devils baseball team handled Leeds with a combination of timely hitting and aggressive base-running to score a 5-1 victory here on Wednesday, March 9.
Moody’s Caleb Jatko got the win, pitching six strong innings and giving up one run, a solo homer by the Green Wave’s Will Anders in the top of the second inning. Jatko struck out seven for Moody, while Zach Johnson and Chase Marshall had two hits apiece for the Blue Devils.
“Timely hits, man. Timely hits with runners on base,” Moody head coach Eamonn Kelly said. “We hit the ball really well tonight. Their soft lefty did a really good job of keeping us off-balance, but we just got hits in a timely manner and it was huge for us. You go back to what we talked about last week: little things help, and details are important.”
For the Green Wave, it was a case of not being able to capitalize on opportunities. Leeds left several baserunners on in scoring position, unable to move them around the bases.
“Offensively we just couldn’t get anything going,” Leeds coach Jake Wingo said. “They got some key hits in some key situations. We got some runners on, but we just couldn’t do anything with it. I thought we played well; we competed hard. Pitched well. Foro the most part played well defensively. We’ve just got to compete more at the plate and finish when we get runners.”
With the umpires giving both teams a wide window on the outside of the plate, Jatko took advantage.
“I threw a lot more breaking balls today, and I was able to run it up and out a little more than usual,” the senior said. “Felt pretty consistent.”
When Anders hit the homer, it was a fastball low and outside that he got around on.
“He got extended, got his barrel to it,” Jatko said. “I didn’t even know how it was possible.”
Chris Goodwin came on in the seventh for Moody, giving up one hit before closing out the Green Wave.