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College  | Story  | 6/28/2016

Morrison closes from the start

Nick Herfordt     
Photo: Coastal Carolina University




2016 College World Series Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8
2016 College World Series Finals Recaps: Game 1

2016 Perfect Game/Rawlings College Baseball All-Americans
2016 Perfect Game Rawlings College Baseball Freshmen All-Americans


OMAHA, Neb. – In a game that ultimately saw Coastal Carolina tie the best-of-three 2016 College World Series Finals with a 5-4 victory over Arizona, the initial outlook looked bleak early for the Chanticleers. Real bleak.

The Chants were in a position where Coach Gary Gilmore had to go off script and start a pitcher in a do-or-die game who hadn’t started a single contest all season. Sure that player was Mike Morrison, an All-American who had put together some magnificent numbers all year, but those numbers were generated out of the Chants’ bullpen, a role where the preparation and mindset are completely different than those of a starting pitcher. Morrison was not only going to be asked to pitch in a different role than he was used to, but he’d have to pitch as many innings as possible to give CCU a chance to play another day.

After the first few batters took to the box, it seemed like Gilmore’s experiment was going to be a failure.

As they’ve done all series, Cody Ramer and Zach Gibbons started things off by reaching base to give Arizona an early pair of runners without a single out. The ‘Cats No. 3 hitter, J.J. Matijevic was called upon to lay down a bunt and advance the runners; it was a bold move which didn’t play out as anticipated by the Arizona coaches. Matijevic failed to put the ball in play and was instead sent back to the bench after he was called out on a bunted third-strike foul.

Nevertheless, Arizona was still in good position to bust out early. A walk loaded the bases to bring Arizona’s most dangerous hitter Bobby Dalbec to the plate. Despite the 6-foot-4 slugger’s potential power the strategy was to play small ball once more. Yet again the Wildcat strategy failed. Dalbec failed to make contact and Ramer, the runner from third, was thrown out after his attempt to scuttle back to safety couldn’t outrace the ball to third. Dalbec would ultimately blast a liner to left which scored a run, but it could have produced a pair had the base running not gone awry.

After being shutout the night before Coastal Carolina would finally score their first runs of the finals in the top of the third. Again, a breakdown in the basics doomed Arizona. Speedy center fielder Billy Cooke rapped a single to left to put a man on. An extremely wild pitch, worthy of a Harry Doyle, “Just a bit outside” quip, allowed him to advance to second. The Chants, whose proficiency with the bunt rivals their ability to hit the long ball, sacrificed Cooke to third.

David Parrett, who had been having success in Omaha but was only batting .159 for the season, skied a ball to the cusp of the left side of the infield, which 999 times out of a thousand would be caught; however this occasion was the one. What would have been the second out of the inning was instead a two-base error. With the two runners in scoring position, Anthony Marks, the Chanticleers’ emotional spark plug, singled up the middle to drive in the runs and gave CCU their first lead.

The bottom of the fourth left few fans with fingernails intact on either side. Arizona once again put their first two batters on base via a single and HBP. A successful sacrifice bunt put both of the runners in scoring position with only one out. Yet Morrison came up big, real big. He dug in and heaved an arsenal of fastballs past the next two batters to earn a pair of strikeouts and culled the attack.

To start Arizona’s half of the fifth, Ramer coaxed a walk out of Morrison to give Arizona a lead off runner as he seemingly has done in every at bat in Omaha. Zach Gibbons followed with his 12th (yes, 12th, not a typo) hit of the series, a single to right, which put runners on the corners with no outs. Morrison banked a strikeout to breathe a little easier, but in the next at-bat, a fielder’s choice tied the game, 2-2. Despite the scoring threat once again, Morrison was able to earn another strikeout, his eighth through five innings to limit the damage once again.

Morrison was able to continue to tame the Wildcats deep into the seventh inning. When he was relieved after 6 2/3 he was welcome to the dugout by a standing ovation from both Coastal Carolina and Arizona fans – although the UA supporters may have been celebrating his departure more than cheering his performance.

It was a momentous outing for Morrison who pitched in what will be his final college appearance on the mound. He did so in style with 103 total pitches and 10 strikeouts, both of which were career highs.

Ultimately there shouldn’t have been second guessing Coach Gilmore’s choice for a starting pitcher. Morrison was seemingly molded for pressure performances. Four times during the season he took to the mound in a bases loaded situation. In each of those four outings he didn’t allow a single runner to cross the plate. Up into this year’s postseason Morrison had inherited 79 runners during his pitching career in Conway and he only allowed 19 of them to score.

After the game Coach Gilmore poured the praise on Morrison.

“You know, to see where that young man came from to where he is today and as good as a pitcher as he has been, in all honesty, his makeup and what he's meant inside that locker room, out in the bullpen… he’s unbelievable.” Gilmore stated.

The 2-2 game continued into the eighth inning when Coastal magnificently manufactured a rally. Marks rudely greeted reliever Cameron Ming into the game with a single up the middle. He was sacrificed over to second with the next at-bat which brought up the Big South Player of the Year to the plate, Connor Owings. Owings’ bat had fallen relatively silent during the CWS, but he managed to hit a lazy lofted ball down the left field line which dodged Arizona’s defensive mitts and allowed Marks to dash home to take the lead, 3-2, and the Chants weren’t done yet.

Remillard doubled down the left field line, which advanced Owings to third. CCU now had two runners in scoring position with only one out. G.K. Young blasted a liner to right field which scored both runners easily. Young got a bit overzealous and tried to stretch his single into a double and was thrown out. The tag quelled the rally but the damage was done. Coastal Carolina had a 5-2 lead.

For all intents and purposes it seemed like the game was over. The Chants had a three-run lead and Arizona only had six outs to make up the difference – an unenviable task, especially in TD Ameritrade Park, which is notoriously unfriendly to offense, but someone forgot to tell Arizona.

Ryan Aguilar singled and a pair of walks loaded the bases with zero outs. Bobby Holmes, the Chants’ pitcher who had relieved Morrison, was instantly in dubious danger. Holmes got the next batter to pop up harmlessly to left and caught another break when he got an out via a run scoring fielder’s choice. The Chants had a two run lead and two outs. The next at bat was to be the final out of the inning. Emphasis on the “was to be…”

A routine grounder was hit to the fundamentally sound shortstop Michael Paez who had been playing model defense throughout the series and the game. As the ball was bounding to his glove he took a quick peak at second base and fumbled the play. The error allowed an unearned run to cross the plate and cut the Coastal lead to one. After a pop-up the inning was over.

Coastal’s top half of the ninth be uneventful. Instead they’d have to protect their one-run lead against the heart of the Arizona offense to close out the game.

Despite his shaky eighth inning, Holmes came back out for the ninth to face the determined Arizona squad. Gibbons, the ‘Cats leading hitter who had been brilliant in Omaha, popped up to first base. Matijevic popped weakly to shortstop. Aguilar, the ‘Cats’ cleanup hitter, lined the ball to first base and it was snagged by Kevin Woodward for out number three. The heart of the order went down in order.

With Carolina’s win the final decisive game of the 2016 College World Series will be played Wednesday night. Arizona will be looking to earn their fifth school title, Coastal Carolina their first.
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