LOUISVILLE, KY — Chance Moore’s first start for St. Bonaventure University got off to a rocky start as Louisville scored three first-inning runs in the opening game of last Friday’s baseball doubleheader.
The former Laker was nearly unhittable the rest of the way as the Bonnies rallied for a 4-3 win in eight-innings.
Moore scattered eight hits in a complete-game effort that included four strikeouts and no walks.
The redshirt junior blanked Louisville over the final seven innings, picking off the potential tying run at first base in the bottom of the eighth to help seal the win.
The game, the first of a doubleheader, was only scheduled to go seven innings, but Bonnies captain Jack Putney cracked a two-run, sixth-inning homer to tie the game at 3.
Adam Rankie drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth as the Bonnies picked up their first win over a Power 5 opponent in five years.
“What a stellar performance,” Garrett baseball head coach Eric Hallenbeck said of Moore. “What’s most impressive is he only threw 88 pitches and 22 of those were in the first inning.”
The Bonnies (2-5) – who defeated an Atlantic Coast Conference team for the first time in nearly 16 years – lost the last three games of the series to Louisville (3-4).
“The knock on Chance was that he didn’t throw hard enough coming out of Garrett,” said Hallenbeck, noting Moore hit 86 miles per hour on one pitch and was regularly between 82 and 84 versus Louisville. “I kept telling coaches a radar gun can’t measure his heart or his competitiveness.
In the next three games against the Bonnies, the Cardinals scored 54 runs.
Moore, who also has a relief appearance for the Bonnies, is 1-0 with a 2.77 earned-run average with six strikeouts and no walks.
In his sophomore year last season, the 6-foot-5 right-hander posted a 4-6 record with a 4.25 ERA for the Lakers.
He had 53 strikeouts in 53 innings with just six walks while earning Garrett College Pitcher of the Year honors.
Moore was also a key contributor at the plate, finishing third in batting average (.317), second in runs batted in (24), and fifth in runs scored (23).