Pure Gold: Moorestown advances

Jared Gold saw his younger brother Ryan walking toward the mound from behind home plate.

"He made it about halfway, and I told him to get back behind there," Jared Gold said.

Ryan Gold was undeterred. He just found another way to talk to his older brother during Moorestown's 4-2 victory over Highland on Tuesday in the semifinals of the South Jersey Group 3 baseball tournament.

"I sat next to him in the dugout the whole game," Ryan Gold said. "We talked about the hitters, our approach, what we would do the next inning."

The Gold brothers aren't exactly Fire and Ice, but they lean in those directions. Jared Gold runs a little hot and Ryan Gold plays it cool, but together they make for a formidable combination.

In Moorestown's biggest game of the season, the Gold brothers led the way and propelled the top-seeded Quakers into Friday's sectional final against 11th-seeded Mainland.

Mainland advanced with a 4-1 victory over second-seeded Hammonton.

Jared Gold, a junior, earned the pitching win, working 61/3 innings. He allowed one earned run on six hits with four strikeouts and also delivered a double in Moorestown's three-run fourth inning.

Ryan Gold, a sophomore, caught all seven innings. He also was 2 for 3 at the plate with a double and an RBI single.

"This was the biggest game of my entire life," Jared Gold said. "When I found out [Monday] night I was pitching, I had butterflies."

Typically, Ryan Gold took the news that he would be catching his brother in the sectional semifinals with a lot more aplomb.

"It's great, but I just try to have fun with it," Ryan Gold said. "I try not to get nervous. I try to embrace it."

Moorestown coach Bill Donoghue said Jared Gold tends to react more strongly than his brother.

"He's definitely the more emotional of the two," Donoghue said of Jared Gold. "He loves to compete. He hates to lose at anything. But he needs to harness that.

"I feel like I know him pretty good, but his brother knows him better than anybody. Ryan calms him down."

Senior centerfielder Tom Gamble delivered a two-run single and senior rightfielder Will Emerson rapped an RBI single for Moorestown (19-7).

Senior centerfielder Kyle Stinson was 2 for 3 with a run and a stolen base and senior second baseman Tom Nolan was 2 for 4 with two RBIs in their last games for Highland (16-12).

"I was proud of how we battled," Highland coach D.J. Gore said. "You have to tip your hat to [Jared Gold]. He hit his spots."

Jared Gold said he has been pitching to his brother for years. He said the first time was in a Little League game in Orange County, Calif., where the boys lived until moving to Moorestown in 2005.

"Who wouldn't want to play with their little brother?" Jared Gold said.

Highland 000 000 2 - 2 8 1

Moorestown 001 300 x - 4 7 1

WP: Jared Gold. LP: Isiah Morales. 2B: M-Ryan Gold, Jared Gold.

Moorestown pitcher Jared Gold talks about the game.

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