Mooring, Greene Central blank Warriors

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on June 19, 2013 1:47 PM

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Eastern Wayne had trouble solving Greene Central starting pitcher Austin Mooring all night.

Mother Nature prevented the Warriors from attempting one final rally.

Mooring pitched a three-hit shutout and Greene Central earned a 3-0 Eastern Carolina Baseball League victory in New Hope on Tuesday evening. The game was called in the top of the seventh inning due to lightning.

Bailey Ormond's RBI double in the top of the third inning gave the Rams a 1-0 lead. Kevin Ormond's bases-loaded walk in the top of the fifth inning and a passed ball that allowed a run to score in the seventh proved to be all the run support Mooring would need.

Mooring wiggled out of trouble in the second and third innings when Eastern Wayne left a runner on third base each time.

The Warriors (2-6 overall) threatened in the fourth inning with a runner at third base and one out. Mooring got Brandon Johnson to hit a ground ball back to the mound and Braxton Lewis was caught in a run down between third base and home. Lewis was tagged out and Johnson was thrown out at second base to end the inning.

Mooring struck out four and walked one to record the win on the mound.

"We had a man on third twice with less than two outs and we just couldn't get that big hit that we needed," Eastern Wayne head coach Michael Fields said. "The big thing we need to work on as a team is our approach at the plate and making functional outs. We need to hit the ball up the middle with men on second base and men on third."

Eastern Wayne starting pitcher Collin Nix labored through five innings as Greene Central hitters routinely worked deep counts. Greene Central had 13 runners reach base in the first five innings. Nix allowed two earned runs on five hits with five walks and four strikeouts and endured the loss.

"Collin struggled early in the game with his fastball command," Fields said. "His change-up really got him out of some trouble with a lot of ground balls. He really battled the heat."