2026 Shore Sports Insider Baseball Pitcher of the Year: Brody Moore, Brick Memorial

As a sophomore during the 2024 high school baseball season, Brody Moore was working to get out of a relief pitching role by proving he could be trusted as a No. 1 starter on the Brick Memorial Baseball team.

As a senior this spring, Moore achieved staff ace status for the Mustangs, and ironically, it was his first relief appearance since April of his junior season that underscored that fact. With his team clinging to a one-run lead at Colts Neck in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III semifinal and junior left-hander Zach Pirnik at just 71 pitches through six innings, Brick Memorial coach Evan Rizzitiello opted to replace his effective starter with the senior left-hander he was planning to save to face the defending sectional champions in the sectional championship game.

Moore dominated the seventh inning against Colts Neck, pitched the game of his life in the Central Group III final at Northern Burlington, and became the ace among aces at the Shore Conference. In leading Brick Memorial to its first-ever NJSIAA sectional title as the No. 1 pitcher, centerfielder, and top-of-the-order hit machine, Moore earned the 2026 Shore Sports Insider Pitcher of the Year Award.

“He is nasty,” fellow senior and Brick Memorial shortstop Tyler Garbooshian said. “Every time he is on the mound, it’s like, ‘We’re going to win this game.'”

The 2025 season was Moore’s first as a full-time starting pitcher, and he pitched his best during the first part of the season. This season was the inverse; Moore endured his worst statistical starts early before dominating the competition down the stretch for the Group III runner-up. Through Moore’s first three starts, he was 1-0 with eight earned runs allowed on 16 hits for a 3.50 ERA in 16 innings, which included 16 strikeouts and eight walks.

 

Brody Moore Career Totals

Year	IP	W	L	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
2024	11.1	1	1	8	6	5	4	14	3.09	1.06
2025	46	6	0	33	18	11	19	64	1.67	1.13
2026	69	8	1	44	23	12	18	101	1.22	0.90
Career	126.1	15	2	85	47	28	41	179	1.15	1.00

 

After his no-decision in an 11-10 loss at Point Pleasant Beach and up until his start in the Group III championship game, Moore was almost untouchable. He went 7-0 in nine appearances with one no-decision and one save. In 48 innings during that stretch, the Mustangs’ left-hander allowed 24 hits, walked only seven, and struck out 81 while pitching to an ERA of 0.44. In that nine-game stretch, Moore never allowed more than five hits or two walks, and he struck out at least nine in all eight of his starts.

Brick Memorial won two tournament championships in 2026, and Moore was the winning pitcher in both championship games. He fired a four-hitter in a 15-1 Brick Memorial win over Toms River South in the Ocean County Tournament final, allowing one earned run with one walk and 11 strikeouts over seven innings. Moore was named the MVP of the Tournament after he went 3-0 on the mound with wins over Brick in the first round, Toms River East in the semifinals, and Toms River South in the championship game. In 20 OCT innings, Moore allowed three earned runs on 12 hits and four walks while striking out 30.

Moore followed up that championship run with two noteworthy short outings: a five-inning no-hitter with one walk against Donovan Catholic and nine strikeouts over four scoreless innings in a 4-0 Mustangs win at Red Bank Catholic – the No. 4 team in the SSI Final Baseball Top 10.

After cruising through a six-inning two-hitter in an 11-1 win over Hopewell Valley in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III quarterfinals, Moore closed out Colts Neck with a perfect seventh inning in the sectional semifinals, which set the stage for his outing in Brick Memorial’s rematch at Northern Burlington one year after Northern Burlington beat the Mustangs, 8-4, in the 2025 Central Group III final.

Moore came out firing, retiring the first 10 Northern Burlington hitters and recording the first two outs of the bottom of the fifth inning before allowing the Greyhounds their first hit. Meanwhile, at the plate, Moore delivered a pair of RBI singles to boost the offense to round out a brilliant championship performance: a two-hit shutout with nine strikeouts and no walks on the mound and a 2-for-3 game with two RBI at the plate in a 7-0 Brick Memorial win against one of the defending Group III champions and one of the state’s most imposing lineups.

 

Brody Moore 2026 Pitching Game Log

Opponent	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	Decision
at TR East	5	5	4	2	1	9	ND
Wall	6	5	2	2	2	2	W
at Pt. Beach	5	6	5	4	5	5	ND
at Southern	5	4	3	0	1	12	ND
Brick (OCT)	7	3	1	0	0	11	W
at TR East (OCT)	6	5	3	2	2	10	W
vs. TR South (OCT)	7	4	1	1	1	11	W
Donovan Cath.	5	0	0	0	1	9	W
at RBC	4	4	0	0	1	9	W
Hopwell (NJSIAA)	6	2	1	0	1	9	W
at Colts Neck (NJSIAA)	1	0	0	0	0	1	SV
at No. Burlington (NJSIAA)	7	2	0	0	0	9	W
Old Tappan (NJSIAA)	5	4	3	1	3	4	L
Totals	69	44	23	12	18	101	8-1, 1 SV

 

Moore’s offensive production nearly matched his performance on the mound in 2026, with the senior racking up 47 hits – tied with Garbooshian and Toms River South senior Jaden Geremia for most in the conference and the most ever in a single season at Brick Memorial, along with new co-record-holder Garbooshian. Moore hit .423 with seven doubles, one triple, two home runs, 23 runs scored, and the sixth-highest RBI total in the conference (32). On top of the hitting, Moore also played quality defense in centerfield and stole 12 bases.

“He has really stepped up and progressed from last year, and he was really good last year,” Rizzitiello said of Moore. “We did not expect the offensive production he has been giving us either, so he has probably been one of the best two-way guys in the area.”

Brick Memorial’s biggest hit of the season belonged to Moore, who shot a single through the right side of the Delsea infield with two out in the bottom of the seventh of the NJSIAA Group III semifinal. Garbooshian raced home from second base to score the winning run, giving Moore the game-winning RBI single and a walk-off 2-1 win for the Mustangs.

Moore’s run of dominant starts ended in the Group III final when a cut on the middle finger of his pitching hand opened up during the first inning of his outing vs. Old Tappan. Moore blew away the first two hitters and had a 1-2 count on the third batter of the game when he signaled to his dugout that he needed to clean up the cut. He pitched with a bandage on his finger the rest of the way and struck out only two over his next four innings after striking out the first two Old Tappan batters of the game. Moore battled through five innings with four hits and three walks allowed, and only one of the three runs that scored on him was earned.

With four strikeouts in the championship game, Moore joined Lakewood sophomore Abel Martinez (110) and Holmdel senior Jack Vallillo (101) as Shore Conference pitchers to reach the 100-strikeout plateau, which no Shore Conference pitcher had done in any of the previous three seasons. Moore’s slate of opponents was stacked as any pitcher at the Shore faced this season, and he still finished eighth in the Shore Conference in ERA (1.22) and seventh in WHIP (0.90).

After an All-Shore selection as a junior and Pitcher of the Year recognition as a senior, Moore will close the book on his program-changing career at Brick Memorial and move on to West Chester University for his college career

 

Matt Manley’s Player of the Year Ballot

1. Brody Moore, Sr., LHP, Brick Memorial

2. Jack Vallillo, Sr., RHP, Holmdel

3. Jackson Redmond, Sr., RHP, Freehold Township

4. Dan Pardini, Sr., LHP, Christian Brothers Academy

5. Ryan Barham, Sr., LHP, Shore

6. Will Meehan, Sr., LHP, Raritan

7. Chase Kaplan, Sr., LHP, Manasquan

8. Brady Williams, So., RHP, Rumson-Fair Haven

9. Zach Pirnik, Jr., LHP, Brick Memorial

10. Aiden Moylan, Jr., LHP, Toms River South