Stress relieved as streaks end

Max Moser never paid much attention to batting average.

He was more concerned with everything else — getting on base, moving runners, scoring runs.

Those baseball nuances mean more to him, and to his team, than the value of one specific statistic.

They are also more significant than a 21-game hitting streak or the ability to reach base in 26 consecutive games.

Moser, a Jay County High School senior, had both accomplishments come to an end recently, relieving some pressure off the Patriot third baseman and future Huntington Forester.

“It was stressful,” Moser said, who had his hitting streak end April 12 — almost one year after it began — and his stretch of consecutive games reaching base came to a close Friday. “You try not to think about it as best you can but it’s just in your head. It’s part of the game.”

Prior to Friday, the last time Moser didn’t reach base was when he was a sophomore. He safely touched first base in all 21 games of his junior year, and the first five of this season.

Lea Selvey, Jay County’s coach, is impressed with Moser’s achievements for two reasons.

“You can’t always control the hits and all that,” he said. “But the fact the on base percentage … he kept getting on base when he didn’t get hits means that he’s not only hitting the ball but he’s having a good eye up there too, which in turn is going to help him get better and better.”

“It’s a very impressive record. I was tickled to death for him. It was cool, it was neat. He has worked hard. He deserves something like that.”

Moser isn’t afraid to admit he had a little stroke of luck along the way. During the tail end of his junior season, he was beating out throws for infield singles and bunting for hits in order to keep his hitting streak alive.

Five times, including twice in the last six games of the 2017 season, Moser kept the streak alive in his last at bat.

On May 15 vs. sectional rival Delta, Moser reached on an error earlier in the game but singled in the bottom of the sixth, pushing his streak to 13 games. Then in the sectional semifinal loss to Yorktown two weeks later, he singled in the bottom of the seventh inning of a 10-6 loss, extending it to 18.

“I got pretty lucky there at the end,” he said.

Some batters may be too aggressive at the plate if they are on the verge of having a hitting streak end like Moser was on five occasions. They could chase pitches out of the strike zone in desperation to just put the ball in play.

Not Moser. He never buckled under those pressure-packed situations.

“This whole group seems to handle that pretty well,” Selvey said. “When they’re focused they seem to rise to the occasion. They don’t seem to panic and they stay with it.

“Max has been able to do that for basically a year and a half now; stay focused in every at bat, every play. That is something he’s going to carry over with him next year.”

Selvey credits Moser’s work ethic as the driving force for him to be as successful as he has been at the plate.

“He really strives to do the best he can on it,” he said. “He fell in love with playing baseball and he decided he’s going to work at it and things fell into place for him.

“I’m really happy for him from that standpoint — seeing guys that work and they reach a goal they get and hopefully he carries that mental toughness into the next level.”

Back to Moser’s statistics.

During his freshman season, Moser only had one plate appearance, a walk.

Since then, Moser has been a model of consistency for the Patriots. He’s batting .427 for his career and has drawn 31 walks, including 17 as a sophomore).

Moser has notched multi-hit outings in 12 of his 55 career games. He’s not necessarily a power hitter — only eight of his 57 career hits are for extra bases, including one home run and no triples — but he gets on base.

“I think something that is more important than batting average for me is on-base (percentage),” he said. Moser sports an on-base percentage (OBP) of .505. “Because if we can get runners on we can do more. Obviously hitting is going to help that, but if I can take a walk, I’d rather take a walk all day than a three-pitch strikeout.”

Moser batted in the No. 5 spot as a junior, and Selvey moved him up to the cleanup spot this year. It wasn’t just based on his streaks, his batting average or his on-base percentage, but was because of his reliability to help the team in any way he can.

“You almost count on him getting a hit every time up, or getting on,” Selvey said. “The thing is, he has got enough speed too that he’s quicker than people realize … Just the fact he’s been a leader (he’s) been a positive influence on everybody.”

Moser never imagined he’d get to the point of having a batting average north of .400 or reaching base in more than half of his trips to the plate. It’s his approach that helped him get there.

But all good things must come to an end, and in the span of eight days two of them did for Moser.

And in his final season with friends he’s played with for nearly a decade, he’s relishing every opportunity he’s got remaining with them before he heads to Huntington.

“It’s just been unreal,” he said. “It all goes so fast. You just stay in the moment and be ready for every opportunity that comes your way.”