Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Roof, Moore excel on NAIA level

Former Lone Oak pitcher Derek Roof worked hard over the final two days as Union University (Tenn.) won the TranSouth Athletic Conference baseball tournament last weekend.

Roof, who spent his freshman year at Indiana, closed out a win over nationally-ranked Cumberland in an elimination contest on Friday, then threw a complete game in an 11-2 win over Bethel in Saturday's championship game.

Now 7-1 with a 3.90 ERA for the Bulldogs, Roof pitched five innings in relief against Cumberland, allowing just two runs. A little more than 24 hours after that 69-pitch effort, Roof pitched nine innings against Bethel, throwing 99 pitches.

In 14 innings over the two outings Roof allowed 14 hits and four runs with no walks and eight strikeouts.

Union, which has moved up to No. 8 in the NAIA national rankings, is the No. 1 seed at the regional tournament at Kingsport, Tenn. Cumberland, the defending national champion, is ranked fifth nationally and is the No. 1 seed at the Paducah Regional, which begins Wednesday at Brooks Stadium.

Moore, a St. Mary product, was named the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference player of the year after leading the league in several offensive categories. Moore, a third baseman at Berea College, hit .467 with 9 home runs and 35 RBI in 43 games. He led the league in batting average and slugging percentage and had 31 extra-base hits i only 152 at-bats.

Berea reached the KIAC championship game, falling to regular-season champion Indiana-Southeast.

He has gotten a couple of looks from professional scouts — Boston and Toronto have expressed some interest — and there is a chance he could be a late-round selection in Major League Baseball's amateur draft in June.

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