College baseball: Moore throws no-hitter as Blugolds split doubleheader in Florida
Mar. 21—The UW-Eau Claire baseball team had a long day of baseball in the summer heat in Davenport, Florida on Tuesday.
After a 12-inning loss in their first game of the day against Hope College, Blugold junior pitcher Matt Moore turned his team's day around with some heroics in their second game against Bard College.
Moore threw a no-hitter in his first start of the season as he led the Blugolds to a 7-0 victory in their second matchup of the day. It's the first no-hitter for the program since it's reinstatement in 2021.
Moore struck out ten batters and finished up the no-no in 124 pitches. He walked two hitters and had four hit-by-pitches, two of which were in the ninth inning. Moore struck the final batter out looking to complete the no-hitter and a shutout with runners on the corners and two outs in the ninth.
Since his team had suffered a tough 10-9 loss in extra innings earlier in the afternoon, Moore said he really wanted to help his team get a win and end their day on a high note.
"I felt like my focus and my command was all there tonight," Moore said. "I really wanted to go out and have a good game."
Moore said he was nervous before the game since it was his first start of the year. However, after the third inning when he'd gotten through the order once without surrendering a hit, he began to think he had a chance to have a special game.
While he knew he was pitching well, Moore said he tried not to think about the no-hitter possibility as the game went on.
"The more you think about it, it's not really going to help," Moore said. "So I just decided to take it one pitch at a time and just do my job."
Once he got to the eighth and ninth innings though, Moore said, the magnitude of the moment was undeniable, as he could feel the anticipation coming from his teammates and the crowd.
He was getting quite fatigued, as he was well over his normal pitch limit, but his coaches trusted him to let them know if he needed to be removed from the game, Moore said.
"I really had to push through to get that final out of the game," he said.
When he caught the final hitter looking at strike three for the final out to complete the no-hitter, Moore said he let out a scream and was met at the mound by his ecstatic teammates.
"After the final out, a lot of emotions just kind of came out," Moore said. "It was just exciting, it was fun to do it with my team."
Moore said his teammates in the field played a huge role in helping him secure the no-no.
"My infield made a lot of good plays," he said. "I was getting hitters out front. Calvin (Schmitz), my catcher, was calling a great game, and we did a good job of keeping hitters off-balance."
Bard's hitters had zero balls leave the infield in the last five innings of the game, as he recorded seven of his 10 strikeouts in that span. Moore said the plan as he got more fatigued was to force a lot of ground balls and let the infield do the work.
As for the Blugolds' offense in the game, they had 7 runs total in the game, three of which were unearned, as Bard had four errors in the field.
They had eight hits in the game, including two from Schmitz and two from first baseman Walter Johnson.
The Blugolds are now 4-4 on the season. They play two more games on Wednesday to wrap up their Florida trip.
First pitch for game one against Hobart is at 1:30 p.m. and their second game against Kalamazoo begins at 6 p.m.
