St. Laurence (yellow) and Sahuaro. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

Chris Moon National Baseball Tournament

March 27-30: Cherry Field

 

Yes, there are moral victories.

St. Laurence was a granite boulder, rolling over teams in pool play of the Chris Moon Invite by scores of 24-3, 13-1 and 11-0, but then came a 4-0 win over Sahuaro. The Cougars knew a championship game against the Vikings might bring more of the hurt teams experienced in pool play but a standout pitching performance from senior reliever Landon Ogle gave them hope.

“I’m usually a closer but I knew I’d get the start today,” Ogle said. “We knew they were great hitters, so my approach was to keep the ball away and try to stop the powerhouse with my curveball.”

Ogle held the Vikings to one run through four innings but a team like St. Laurence will find a way to get things done and the team from the Chicago area added two runs in the fifth and one more in the seventh for the 4-0 victory. Even more, St. Laurence senior Gage Olszak limited the Cougars to three hits in six innings of work.

The Vikings scored in the top of the first on an RBI double from Matt McCormick. The West Virginia commit picked up two more RBIs in the fifth and he finished the game 3-for-4. If there was an MVP trophy to be handed out, it would have had McCormick’s name on it. Besides collecting three of his team’s seven hits in the final, the standout catcher ended the week with four home runs, with a grand slam thrown in the mix.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a week like this,” McCormick said. “I was feeling it at the plate. Maybe it was the warmer weather, but I was hitting really well. I hope I played the way Chris Moon would have expected me to play.”

Moon would have been very impressed indeed.

MORE ON CHRIS MOON HERE

Vito Valincius added a double for St. Laurence and Alex Gasbarro had an RBI ground out in the seventh. Olszak picked up the win but he waivered a bit in the bottom of the sixth and loaded the bases with one out on an error and two hit batsmen but he settled down and collected his sixth strikeout and induced a pop fly to end the threat.

Travis Cole, Dylan Bradford and Ogle had hits for Sahuaro.

The Cougars will return to action on Tuesday, April 3 in region play at Mountain View.

 

Friday, March 30

Bracket Play

San Marcos 9, Arvada West 8

Pomona 13, Flowing Wells 8

Tucson 9, Rio Rico 6

CHAMPIONSHIP

St. Laurence 4, Sahuaro 0