Portland High School’s Brody Moore gets back-to-back grand slams at St. Johns, Raiders currently 11-6 on the season

When the Portland High School baseball team traveled to St. Johns on Thursday, sophomore Brody Moore accomplished something very few high school baseball players ever have.  During the first game of the double header, Moore hit two grand slams in one game.  The first being in the first inning and the second coming in the second inning.  To get even more specific, they occurred on two consecutive pitches to him.

While I cannot say for certain how rare this feat is in high school baseball, the Baseball Almanac says only 13 major leaguers have ever hit two grand slams in a single game, with the most recent being Washington’s Josh Willingham in 2009.

When asked what it like coming up to the for second at bat in the second inning, after hitting his first grand slam in the first inning, Moore said, “I was not thinking about another home run.  I was trying to put the ball in play and help my team.”

Moore had a walk off home run against Ionia last season.  The two on Thursday make three home runs in his young high school career. 

As for looking back on his accomplishment in St. Johns, Moore said, “I could not have done it without the guys ahead of me putting me in that position.”

When asked about Moore’s two grand slam game, Portland Head Coach Chris Trierweiler said, “That’s pretty good stuff.  He puts a lot of time into baseball.  He hits the ball hard.”

Trierweiler went on to say of Moore, “He is going to be a college baseball player.  I can’t say much about what he doesn’t do.  He is only going to get better.  He is going to be someone other teams are thinking about.”

The Raiders would win the first game at St. Johns 9-8.  More finished the game two for four with eight RBIs.  Senior Caden Thelen went three for five with a double.  Senior Marky Meyers was also three for four at the plate for Portland.  Junior AJ Weber and sophomore Brad Meyers each had two hits in the game.

Junior Paul Roberts got the win for Portland on the mound.  He went five innings striking out five.  Sophomore Max Sandborn got the save.

St Johns won the second game of the evening, outscoring the Raiders 10-7.  Portland tallied 10 hits in the game, but a high number of errors plagued them in the field.

Junior Barrett Brennan was on the mound in the second game, striking out one. 

Moore (doubles) and Sandborn each had two hits in the game.  Weber, Caden Thelen, and junior Evan Thelen each had doubles in the game. 

On Saturday the Raiders hosted Haslett and West Michigan Aviation Academy as part of the PHS’s Spring Sports Carnival. 

The Raiders defeated Haslett 7-5 in their first contest of the game. 

Senior Marky Meyers got the win on the mound for Portland pitching three innings and striking out two.  Sandborn was the middle reliever pitching three innings and striking out one.  Evan Thelen got the save pitching one inning and striking out three.

Moore led the Portland offense going three for four with three RBIs.  Evan Thelen went two for three with a double. 

In the final game of the day, Portland defeated West Michigan Aviation Academy 9-0.  Portland tallied 11 hits in the game. 

Caden Thelen (double), Marky Meyers (home run) and AJ Weber each had two hits.  Evan Thelen had a double. 

The Raiders now sit and 11-6 for the season. 

When asked about the teams record at this point in the season, Trierweiler said, “We lost a couple of tough ones and are dealing with some injuries.”  He said, “It is just one of those years when not everyone is healthy.  We are coming along though.  Lost tough ones to South Christian and Grand Ledge.  We are not too far off.”

When asked about his expectations for the remainder of the season, Trierweiler said, “We need to get healthy, and we are way young.  We are pretty young in the infield, but our seniors are our pillars and we have solid juniors.  We would like to be 15-0 but with the schedule we have we are playing top tier teams every week.”  He went on to say, “Everybody’s expectations are high.  We are going to go down swinging.  Weather we win the league or not, we are going to fight.  This league is solid.”

Next week Portland will travel to Eaton Rapids on Tuesday and host Haslett on Thursday. 

Pictured is Brody more at the plate just before his second grand slam against St. Johns.  Photo courtesy of Alex Moore.