Dayton head coach Matthew Moore’s message was clear. The Broncos are now 0-0.
Moore relayed that message to his team shortly after the Goose Creek Memorial Tournament concluded on Saturday and it was in relation to District 18-5A starting Tuesday.
Moore, in his first season as head coach and fourth overall with the program, said during the afternoon that he was feeling optimistic.
Dayton is one of the fortunate programs to get all three weeks of their tournaments in despite the weather being cold the first week at the Humble ISD one.
The Broncos enter district play with a two-game series this week against West Fork with a 5-10 record. The goal now is snap playoff playoff-less streak that dates back to its their last trip in 2019.
Moore knew coming into the season that Dayton had quality starting pitching in juniors Sebastian Avila and Hunter Wallace. Wallace compiled an ERA of 2.21 over 19 innings pitched while Avila’s was a little higher at 4.94, but the righty especially settled in during his last two starts where he shutout New Waverly on March 1 and allowed just three earned runs over six innings this past Thursday against Liberty.
Landon Curry, in 13⅔ innings, is second on the team in strikeouts with 13 and has a 2.56 ERA. Braden Gutierrez went 13 innings pre-district and Luke Ressler went 9 ⅔, including five innings Saturday where he kept his team in it in a loss to Texas City. Center field Anthony Zuniga and Blake Sigle can provide some depth, too.
Where Dayton could use a boost is supporting those pitchers. In five wins, the Broncos scored 30 of their 53 runs. In losses, they are averaging 2.3 runs per game.
In West Fork, which Dayton plays at 7 p.m. on the road Tuesday and the same time at home Friday, the Broncos start out with a team that went 8-4 over the first three weeks.
The Gators have cooled off some after winning five of their first six games with just 11 runs allowed in those wins. More recently, West Fork is 3-3 in the month of March.
West Fork already has made program history. In just its second season and playing without seniors, the Gators went just 5-21 last year.
This week’s games will be the first varsity meetings between the two programs.
Friday’s game will be Dayton’s first home game of the season.
Members of the Dayton baseball team are seen earlier this season. (Jose Palomo/SportCast Media)
