Chris Randazzo tries to beat out an infield grounder for the Route 2 Blue Sox.
By Rich Bevensee
Deacon Moore just can’t resist looking at the Diamond Nation scoreboards when they’re flashing the pitching radar. As much as he wants to throw strikes, he finds himself whipping his head around to see how fast his last pitch traveled.
He also confessed that the radar is a distraction, and he was somewhat relieved when he arrived at Field 4 and saw the radar was turned off.
So Moore went about his business of throwing strikes – something at which he excels – and very nearly threw a perfect game.
Moore retired the first 13 batters he faced before giving up a single in the bottom of the fifth inning. With the pressure off, he pitched a scoreless sixth and completed a one-hit shutout for the Diamond Jacks Super 16U, which dominated Route 2 Blue Sox 2026, 9-1, in the Diamond Nation Super 16U World Series on Wednesday at ‘The Nation’ in Flemington.
“Yeah, I was thinking about a perfect game in the dugout every inning – you can’t really help it – but I was glad I could focus and throw strikes and get us a win,” said Moore, a big part of Lawrence High’s success the past two seasons.
Diamond Jacks coach Walt Cleary said Moore hovers between 79 and 81 although he’s had a few pitches tick 82 or 83.
Not knowing exactly how fast he was throwing Wednesday seemed to have helped Moore.
“I definitely don’t need it (the radar) on to pitch,” Moore said. “It’s fun to see it when it’s on, but I focus better when it’s not.”
The Diamond Jacks improved to 3-0 with one game remaining against Hamilton A’s Nation on Thursday. The top five teams from the World Series earn a berth in the Super 16 Top 25 Showcase Aug. 12-15.
Will Sassman singled and drove in a run with a sac fly for Diamond Jacks Super 16U.
Moore, a rising junior at Lawrence, is coming off a solid sophomore spring season. He posted a 2.62 ERA with 21 strikeouts and just six walks over 24 innings. He did even more work with the bat for the Cardinals, hitting .337 with 15 RBI.
Moore said he was bidding to throw his first perfect game in three years, having accomplished it in middle school.
It didn’t surprise Cleary at all to see Moore on a roll Wednesday. Apparently he’s been doing it all summer.
“Deacon was awesome. He was just cruising,” Cleary said. “His strike percentage was very, very good. He was ahead of every hitter. He was always in control of the game, and he’s really starting to trust his defense. He had a good year in high school and he’s bouncing off that.”
Moore, executing a fastball, curveball and changeup, fell behind to just one batter, when he surrendered a two-out walk to the Blue Sox’ Chris Randazzo in the sixth. Moore shrugged, then picked up his fifth strikeout to end the game.
“Deacon’s velo is very good, he throws a relay good breaking ball off that and he trusts his change up as well, “ Cleary said. “When he’s locked in he can throw three pitches for strikes. Kind of tough to hit at 16 years old.”
His teammates definitely knew what was at stake for Moore. The only hit Moore yielded was a fifth-inning single to Brett Daniels, a grounder that barely bounced past the outstretched glove of diving third baseman Owen Schilling.
In the sixth, Moore benefitted from a terrific play by shortstop Zach Geertsma. Route 2’s Dustin Whitaker hit a hot smash between short and third which bounced off Schilling’s glove. The carom went backward to Geertsma, who was backing up on the play and fired to first in time for the out.
The Diamond Jacks offense was superb from the outset. Danny Contiliano opened the first with a walk, Geertsma followed with a double, and two batters later Michael Novotny doubled to left for a 2-0 lead.
After leaving the bases loaded in the third inning, the Diamond Jacks left nothing to chance in the fourth. Will Sassman drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Cayden Vishnesky scored on an infield error.
Geertsma stroked an RBI single and later scored on an infield error. Lorenze Maselli beat out a two-out grounder to second to drive in the team’s fifth run of the inning for a 7-0 lead.
In the top of the sixth the Diamond Jacks added two more runs when John Rossman blasted a two-run, grounds-rule double to left center on an 0-2 pitch.
With Rossman’s double, every Diamond Jack in the 10-man batting order had reached safely.
The win and the team’s 3-0 start was the continuation of a solid performance from a two-week tournament in the south for the Diamond Jacks. They went 0-3-1 in Alabama before bouncing back to go 4-2 in Georgia, where they won their pool and made the playoffs.
“We play clean defense, the team is super athletic so we can run – we beat out two balls to second base – and we hammered a couple baseballs in the gap,” Cleary said. “We were just on a two-week southern trip. We had a bad run in Alabama but we bounced back in Georgia and caught some momentum and now we’re 3-0.”
The loss dropped the Blue Sox, based in Arlington, Massachusetts (outside Boston) to 1-2 with one game remaining against Uncommon Baseball 2026 Black on Thursday.
Bryce Leonard pitched 3⅔ innings for the Blue Sox and allowed seven runs on eight hits and four walks with one strikeout. Adam Fiorentino came on in relief in the fourth to get the final out. And Hunter Faulds pitched two innings and yielded two runs on two hits and two walks with three strikeouts.