AUBURN - You could gauge Cory Langtry's excellent varsity baseball career by looking at a list of impressive statistics. Or you can appreciate the ultimate compliment that a baseball coach can pay a pitcher.

"I rearrange the pitching schedule so that he pitches against the better teams."

That's how Rich Valentino handles Langtry, a senior right-hander for the Blue Devils, and it paid off on Tuesday. Langtry threw a complete-game victory for Moravia with 14 strikeouts in a 6-0 win over Lansing, the No. 7 team in the state's Class C poll.

He allowed just four hits and one walk. At the plate, Langtry led the Blue Devils with three hits.

Just how dominating was Langtry?

"He was just on and he was throwing hard too," understated catcher Tim Nervina said. "Every single pitch was there. There's not much to say, just normal Cory."

That type of performance is what Valentino has come to expect over the course of Langtry's four-year varsity career. In a rivalry game against one of the top teams in the IAC and Section IV, Valentino didn't want anybody else to have the ball, and Langtry responded.

"Those are the games you want to play in because you want to be challenged," Langtry said. "You don't want to just go out and either get killed or kill teams all of the time. You want to play in big games. It just makes it more fun."

Now, a little bit more on those impressive statistics. Over the course of his career, Langtry has averaged 1.8 strikeouts per inning.

He had 58 Ks as a freshman, 119 in his sophomore year and 114 last year.

Langtry has a 17-9 overall record as a pitcher and a career earned-run average of 1.93.

As a junior, his ERA was a sparkling 0.80 but his record stood at just 5-4.

This year it's more of the same. He's allowed just 0.75 earned runs per outing, but stands at 3-2. That's what pitching against Moravia's best opponents will do.

"Sometimes his record isn't as impressive as it should be, but his ERA is," Valentino said. "He keeps the run total down where we sometimes don't come through with our runs."

His hitting numbers include a .515 batting average and 12 RBIs in 13 games. The two-time baseball team MVP is also a 2004 all-state selection in football and was an all-state player in baseball after his sophomore season.

Langtry was also a big part of Moravia's basketball program.

"He's a great competitor and plays all three sports. In baseball, I've known him since he was a little kid, and in my personal opinion that's where his true love is. He's been an all-star in all three sports," Valentino said.

Playing three sports isn't a burden for Langtry, because it's something he's done for a long time. Growing up with neighborhood football, basketball, and baseball games with his brothers and friends prepared him to be a versatile varsity athlete.

"Ever since I was growing up I've been playing all of them because I have an older brother," Langtry said. "It's just something I like to do and something I'm used to doing."

Langtry admits his first true love was basketball, but he's grown most fond of baseball through his high school years. It's a career that he hopes to continue at the college level next year, but he won't settle for being a one-sport athlete. He would also like to continue to play football at the next level.

So far, Langtry's been most interested in Ithaca College and St. John Fisher College.

His current coach, Valentino, is an Ithaca grad and doesn't shy away from expressing his choice for Langtry's next school.

"It's my alma mater and I'd like to see him go there. It's basically the first kid in 20 years that I wanted to see go there," Valentino said.