BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
MANHATTAN – Hoisington’s living legend Tony Moore achieved school history with a dominating 106-pitch masterpiece that baffled 2-time state baseball champion Sabetha 3-1. The Cardinals (16-10) had lost six consecutive first-round games at the 3A state baseball tournament.
Moore (6-1, 1.57 ERA) struck out eight batters and threw a 3-hitter to keep Sabetha’s offense under wraps. Moore retired 13 consecutive batters until stranding baserunners in scoring position in the fifth and sixth innings.
“My 2-seam fastball and slider were my two best pitches,” Moore said. “My slider came out of nowhere after a tried it before the Holcomb game. I love it. When the bell rings, I’m going to answer it.”
Cardinal coach Eric Steiner was not surprised.
“I’ll take No. 8 on the mound against anyone,” Steiner said. “Tony hit his spots and helped us make school history.”
The Cardinals’ defense delivered with leftfielder Crites tracking down fly balls and the infield recording five assists.
“It was a great team effort defensively,” Steiner said.
The Cardinals scratched out three runs against Sabetha pitcher Chris McAfee (5-1).
Lane French walked and moved to third base on Aiden Hekele’s perfectly executed second-inning hit-and-run. French scored on a wild pitch. Steiner’s move to drop Brodie Crites to ninth batter worked like magic when Crites singled in Hekele for a 2-0 lead.
Gratton Dalton scored in the fifth inning on a Mason Martin double-play groundball.
Sabetha’s Chase Frey singled in Mitchell Kramer after reaching on a sixth-inning error.
The Cardinals play 6-time state baseball champion Topeka Hayden in Friday’s semifinal game at Kansas State University.
Hoisington 020 010 0 – 3 3 1
Sabetha 000 001 0 – 1 3 0
Moore and Ingram. McAfee, Kramer (6) and Mitchell. W—Moore, 6-1. L—McAfee, 5-1.
