Aware of the significance of the county rivalry against Wright City, Warrenton coach Eric Burle didn’t shy away from starting a sophomore pitcher on Monday. Brandon Moeller could have felt the weight of the game before it ever began, but the Warriors’ starter was unfazed. He allowed just two hits and retired the final 13 batters he faced in leading the Warriors to a 7-2 victory. “Our pitching and our defense was great today,” said Burle. “Brandon did a great job during his first varsity start, only giving up two runs.” It marked the third straight win for Warrenton over its neighbor to the east. “I thought we played really well,” said Burle. “We hit with runners in scoring position. We had three runs scored with two outs, which is something we couldn’t do last week (in the opener).“ We didn’t tear the cover off the baseball, but we had solid defense and great pitching today,” said Burle. Wright City wasn’t completely without life, but the successes were far and few between. Junior Carlos Quiles led off the first inning with a single and was driven home on a base hit by junior Austin Meine. But the Wildcats’ lead was short-lived. “It’s a rivalry game, so Brandon had plenty of reason to be nervous and anxious,” said Burle. “They scored that run right off the bat, which could have easily rattled him, but he got out of the inning with no further damage done.” “Everyone was making a big deal about this game, and Brandon knew he had to step up,” said senior Chad Berrey. Junior Tyler Tuepker struggled to find the strike zone early on for Wright City, walking senior Anthony Dewey in the lead-off spot. He stole two bases and eventually scored on an error. “We had a miscommunication in the first inning that hurt us and allowed them to score a run,” said Wright City coach Dave Chapman. Senior Jake Shough and Berrey also reached base in the first and were driven home on a double to centerfield by Chris Hertel to push the Warriors ahead 3-1. Wright City’s only other run came in the third and perhaps the weakest of Moeller’s innings. Quiles and Tuepker reached by walk, and Quiles advanced home a balk. “Right now we’re just not hitting,” said Chapman. “Until we score some runs, we’re not going to be able manufacture anything. We’re putting all the pressure on our defense.” The Warriors countered in the fifth inning, as Jakob Junker singled and was driven home by freshman Ben Stephens. Chapman decided to pull Tuepker in the sixth inning because of his high pitch count. He finished with four walks, four strikeouts, having given up three hits. Quiles came in for relief, but the Warriors quickly found his number. Junior Jordan Noble led off with a walk and Moeller was hit by a pitch. Shough collected an RBI single, and Junker followed with a double to give Warrenton its final run. With the wind delaying the drop on fly balls, Burle advise his team to keep the ball low. “The wind was holding everything up, so we talked about line driving ground balls and seeing what they’re defense can do,” said Burle. Moeller walked two and struck out three through seven innings. “He got ahead in the counts and had a pretty decent breaking ball that got our guys reaching out a little bit,” said Chapman.“Today we did a great job of putting the ball in play and making them make plays,” said Burle.