Senior speedster Moore has Pointers clicking ahead of state tourney

Chase Moore has forged his own path to success in Van Buren. Moore capped the regular season with four hits in Saturday’s doubleheader split against Bentonville and added three walks. Running the bases seven times in a day is a good day at the ball park and a great way to wrap up his final home game. “It is bittersweet,” Moore said. “I had a good day. I felt confident.” Moore was especially clutch in the second game of the doubleheader, which Van Buren won, 8-2, to clinch the third seed from the 7A-West in the Class 7A state tournament. The Pointers (20-6) play Northside (10-24) at 12:30 p.m. today at Burns Park in North Little Rock. Saturday, Van Buren let a 3-1 lead slip away in the opener in the seventh inning and fell, 4-3, in extra innings. “We were playing for the three seed,” Moore said. “We thought it was over. We shouldn’t have stopped playing and finished it off. We could have had a little more fun the second game.” Moore did end up having a lot of fun in the second game with a double, a single and a triple after walking in his first trip to the plate. He drove in four runs, including two with the second-inning double that was part of a six-run inning. The triple was his fourth of the season, which leads all of Class 7A. He’s also been stellar at shortstop for the Pointers, solid with the glove, armed with a strong, accurate arm, with good range. “It’s just a lot of ground balls,” Moore said. “Coach Loyd hits me a lot of ground balls after practice every day. Offseason, it’s been 50 to 100 ground balls a day. I went from 13, 14 errors last year to not very many this year.” His speed and defense have been the examples of what has set him apart from his older brother, Brandon. Brandon was a local legend from the time he stepped on the ball field to play T-ball where his home runs over the fence started the legacy. Brandon was a dominant pitcher and powerful hitter, who led Van Buren to the state championship game and went on to play for the Arkansas Razorbacks before being drafted to play professionally. It’s never easy living up to the hype of a big brother. “I just kind of told people to not talk about it,” Chase Moore said. “I’m a different player. He’d hit home runs, and I’d hit triples.” He’s definitely developed into a complete player. He’s in the top 10 in the state in hitting in Class 7A, batting .380 and leads the Pointers with 26 RBIs, a .663 slugging percentage and 18 extra-base hits. “They’re completely different type players,” Van Buren head coach David Loyd said. “Brandon was a pitcher mainly and could dominate games on the mound. Chase can do probably do more things with his legs, he hits the ball as well as Brandon did, just completely different kind of player. He looked up to him growing up and learned a lot from him. He’s benefitted from that as a high school player.” Moore has been an overall catalyst for the Pointers’ offense, batting second and getting on base in a variety of ways and producing offense by different means. “I focused on speed,” Moore said. “He focused on throwing the ball and a hitting it into the trees. He focused on getting big and strong. People compare me to him a lot. I’m a completely different player. He was big and a pitcher. I’m not big and a shortstop.” Moore will continue his playing career at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. First, he and four senior teammates along with catcher Ethan Rauser, second baseman and pitcher Evan Jones, outfield Bryson Patrick and Cooper Johns have their sights set on a run at the state tournament. “He’s a good player,” Loyd said. “He’s got speed. he swings the bat good. He’s played well for us. Hopefully, he’s got a good tournament left in him. He’s a senior, and we’ve got five quality kids that are seniors that have all benefited us. Hopefully, we can send them out on a good note.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Van Buren High School Athletics

SENIOR SPEEDSTER MOORE HAS POINTERS CLICKING AHEAD OF STATE TOURNEY

LELAND BARCLAY

Times Record | 5/10/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Aaron Shaffer