Garces junior Jake Moody splits his time at second base with his time pitching but he's always loved one more than the other. "It's always been pitching for me ever since I was little," said Moody. "Even if I do bad I still like it it doesn't matter."

But things went wrong about as quickly as they could. During his first inning pitching against Frontier his freshman year he injured his throwing arm. "My elbow just started to hurt really bad," he said. It turned out to be a fractured shoulder plate and after surgery he had to sit out all of his sophomore year. 

"We really didn't know what we were going to get out of him this year but he worked really hard this summer and he's been a great surprise so far for us," said 9th year coach Guy Dees. 

Moody has become one of the Rams aces. This week pitching five shutout innings, ironically enough against Frontier, to pick up his second win of the season.

But he doesn't just bring the heat. He's also providing the hits. He's riding an 8 game hitting streak; Tuesday hitting four base knocks. "He's very aggressive at the plate and he wants to hit big all the time," said Dees. 

It's behind that dual threat at the plate and on the mound that Garces will look to repeat as Valley champs. "We have a really good chance to repeat this year," said Moody. "We have a really good bond that not a lot of teams have."

----

Like Stephen Hicks on Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/StephenHicks23ABC

Follow him on Twitter- https://twitter.com/stephenhicks23