John Jay Jumps on Edgemont in 11-1 Win

On Monday March 30, John Jay hosted Edgemont, and Jackson Moreo immediately surrendered a double to deep left. “It was a little first inning nerves,” said the Wolf, and even though the run came around to score, the starter credited his teammates for not letting the opening knock him off center.

“They have my back from the jump,” said Moreo, and 11 unanswered runs later, the home team served mercy in the sixth to even their record at 2-2.

After a will pitch gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the first, the offense didn’t wait long to make the leap for their pitcher. Ty Beshara walked, stole second and ended up at the hot corner on a wild pitch. One out, Jacob Storch lined a single up the middle, and the score was tied.

The shortstop then stole second, and another wild pitch gave the Wolves their second third base runner. Ben Kalish followed with a walk, and with runners on the corners, the obligatory steal of second appeared to pay off for Edgemont.

Storch caught in a rundown, the defense failed to execute, and the runner slid in under the tag. That left Kalish on third, and he came in on Amogha Bhat’s chopper to third.

3-1, Moreo was definitely settled in. One pop up and two grounders to Storch moved the game to the bottom of the second. A Luke Fisch single got stalled at third, so Moreo revved up his engine. He got a double play on a soft line drive to second and walked off the mound with a strikeout swinging from Will Terrasi.

Onto the third, Storch worked a lead off walk, and after stealing second, the senior was ninety feet away on a Kalish grounder to third. Baseball 101 violated, Coach Lawrence disagreed. “Doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t go, if the ball is taking the third baseman away from the bag,” he reasoned.

A wild pitch to Bhat looked pretty good, but Liam Feastar beat Storch back to the plate. So the base cleared, Bhat refused to give in. After fouling off three pitches at 3-2, the third baseman kept the inning alive with a walk and stole second to get John Jay back in scoring position.

In stepped Luca Maiuolo, and two fastballs outside didn’t get the catcher to bite. “He left one in on me with two strikes, and I put it in play,” the sophomore said.

A single to left brought in Bhat, but John Jay was not done. Aidan Chernick singled, Fisch went deep to left for an RBI double, and a single by Eli Tubbs drove in run number seven to close the inning.

Now plenty of room for error, Moreo still played on the margins. “My whole thing is deception,” Moreo explained.

Striking out the side, a stacked deck is always nice, and he credits the pitching staff’s off season strength training. “I gained a lot of velo,” Moreo revealed.

Control too, he made easy work in the top of the fifth and didn’t forget his battery mate. “Luca called an amazing game, helping to keep guys off balance,” boasted Moreo.

Two more strikeouts in the sixth then set the stage for John Jay to put Edgemont out of their misery. Moreo doubled, Kalish reached on a bloop single, and Bhat walked again to load the bases.

A balk moved all the runners up, and after Chernick brought in the tenth run with a sacrifice fly, Tubbs ground ball to second forced a throwing error that brought the summation back to Moreo. “Jackson gave up the lead off double and never looked back,” concluded Lawrence. “He just kept pumping strikes.”

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