OCALA, Fla. – A masterful pitching performance from Tobin Moran quieted the No. 1 College of Central Florida bats, and No. 5 Santa Fe Baseball took Game 1 of the series with the Patriots by a 4-0 score on Goodlett Field.

A GAME-CHANGING PLAY…

Moran's 10 strikeouts matched a career-high, and he ended innings with K's on four occasions, including both the eighth and ninth frames.

Complete game shutout for Tobin Moran, and the Saints take Game 1 over No. 1 Central Florida, 4-0! #SicEmSaints pic.twitter.com/hTjktmYOhk

— Santa Fe Saints (@santafesaints) March 22, 2023

CF has been the nation's best offense statistically in 2023, but the Patriots were off-balance all game long as the sophomore from Palm Beach Gardens dominated on the mound by getting ahead of counts and locating his pitches to near perfection.

TEAM COMPARISON

SF did enough offensively to support Moran and tacked on single runs for insurance in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.

Josh Hogue walked in a run in the 7th, Grant Gallagher singled to plate JP Herrholz in the eighth, and Herrholz crushed a ground-rule double in the ninth to score Hogue.

The Saints finished with nine hits to just four for the Patriots. Three hits for SF came via doubles, while all of CF's hits were singles.

The game was cleanly played with no defensive errors for either side.

SF BATTING HIGHLIGHTS

JP Herrholz – 3-5, 2 2B, 2 R, RBI

Grant Gallagher – 2-3, BB, RBI

Josh Hogue – 1-3, BB, R, RBI

Zeth Rodriguez - RBI

SF PITCHING STATS

Tobin Moran (W, 6-0) – 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 10 K

The righty threw efficiently in the gem, tossing 75 strikes in 107 pitches. On the season, he has 55 strikeouts to just five walks through eight starts and 54.1 innings pitched.

Some postgame thoughts from Moran after a magnificent outing, matching a career-high with 10 K's in a complete game gem. pic.twitter.com/xeW4UgWlN1

— Santa Fe Saints (@santafesaints) March 22, 2023

UP NEXT

Game 2 in the series between the No. 1 Patriots and No. 5 Saints is Friday in Gainesville at 3:00 p.m.