Drew Moreland enjoyed probably the best game of his high school varsity career Tuesday night.
Moreland, a senior-to-be, allowed just two first-inning singles, struck out four and went 3-for-3 at the plate to spark the Carson Blue Jays to a 4-0 win over archrival Douglas at Ron McNutt Field.
Carson returns to action tonight with a doubleheader starting at 5 p.m. against Damonte Ranch.
"Everything was working tonight literally," Moreland said. "The pitching came through, the hitting came through and we made all the plays in the field."
The Blue Jays did make two errors, but Moreland was able to pitch over both miscues. The defense turned over two double plays, Chance Quilling made a nice catch in centerfield to take away a potential extra-base hit and Brock Pradere's diving stop of a groundball took away another potential hit.
Good defense hasn't always been the norm when Moreland has pitched, but Tuesday the defense was at its best.
"By far his best performance of the year," said assistant coach Bryan Manoukian, who was filling in for head coach Cody Farnworth, who was on vacation. "When he had to make big pitches he did and we played pretty good defense behind him."
Moreland said he probably felt better about his 3-for-3 at the plate.
"Probably my freshman year (I may have had three hits in a game)," Moreland said. "I'm more proud of the three hits than the pitching, because I've worked really hard on my hitting and I've come a long way. I don't want to say pitching is easier, but it's a lot easier than hitting for me."
Moreland had to be good because Douglas' Jackson Ketron also threw a fine game. Errors played a part in all four runs he allowed.
"Jackson threw a good game," Douglas coach Bruce Jacobsen. "He's one of our two seniors, and we're counting on big things from him. He gave us a chance to win. We just didn't make a couple of plays out there."
Carson's first run was set up by Ketron, whose errant pickoff throw allowed Rory Petersen, who had walked, to get all the way to third. Pradere followed with a foul fly to first which Douglas first baseman Sullivan Cauley caught near the back end of the Douglas dugout, and Petersen tagged up and beat the throw to the plate.
It could have been a bigger inning, but Nick Domitrovich tried to score from third on a groundball to short, but was easily thrown out for the second out of the inning.
The score stayed 1-0 until the fifth.
Moreland pitched out of a first-and-third jam in the first, and he got out of first-and second jams in the fourth and fifth.
Carson made it 3-0 with two runs in the fifth.
Petersen walked and moved to third on Pradere's sharp single to left. Pradere tried to take second, but was thrown out on a close play. Domitrovich grounded to first, but the Douglas first baseman slipped and was unable to make a play as Petersen stayed at third. Chance Quilling followed with a groundball to third, and it was hit so close to the bag that Petersen was unable to get back to the bag. Domitrovich moved up to second on the play. After a double steal put runners on second and third. An error on Jace Zampirro's groundball scored both runners.
In the sixth, Carson added another unearned run to complete the scoring. It was a nice comeback for the Blue Jays, who were swept 13-3 and 7-0 by Reno on Monday.
"I expected this," Manoukian said. "We came out and played with a little more passion. With our seniors I expected us to bounce back like we did."