In baseball, pressure shows itself in various forms. For Will Moore, that pressure often comes by setting the tone.
Indiana’s leadoff man embraced that role on Tuesday night, reaching base six times — going 4-for-4 with an RBI, walk and hit by pitch — in Indiana’s 12-4 win over Wright State.
“(Pressure) is what we came here for,” he said.
Head coach Jeff Mercer said that Moore’s had to tweak his mentality slightly in order to maximize his potential at the top of the order.
“At times he wants to get on base and then be a hitter,” Mercer said in reference to Moore’s tendency to opt for free passes to first instead of swinging away. “People don’t throw him strikes because he’s a good hitter.”
That talent was on full display on Tuesday, reaching base in all six plate appearances, helping keep the Raiders’ pitching staff under constant duress. He later scored three times, accounting for a quarter of the team’s run output.
Moore, who’s reaching base in nearly half his plate appearances (.485 on-base percentage), has been one of the few constants for an Indiana team that has been far from consistent to begin the season.
As a result, the pressure to continue being that reliable tone-setter only gets bigger. Moore and his teammates understand that.
“Being a leadoff guy is an important role,” Indiana utility man Hogan Denny said, adding he was able to feed off of Moore’s momentum batting right behind him. Using that momentum as fuel, Denny logged a 3-hit night.
Mercer thinks Moore is starting to settle into his niche at the top of the lineup.
“(He’s) the engine for the offense,” Mercer said. “Tonight, he looked like the player that we watched for the last half of last year.”
For a 7-9 Indiana team that’s struggled to string together consecutive wins so far this year — perhaps a result of more pressure being placed on a young core of players — having a consistent presence in Moore leading the way is a big first step towards reaching its potential.
And when Moore sets that tone, the Hoosiers tend to follow his lead.
