Shortstop Corey Morris brings competitive edge to diamond for Yellowjackets

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Tuesday, May 10, 2016 Shortstop Corey Morris brings competitive edge to diamond for Yellowjackets

Wrapping up a stellar two-year career for the ‘Jackets, senior shortstop Corey Morris brings an unmatched competitive edge to the diamond.

MSUB SPORTS – With two outs in the top of the ninth inning and the go-ahead run on third base, Western Oregon University’s Marcus Hinkle ripped a sharp line drive on the infield at Dehler Park that threatened to put the lead into the Wolves’ hands midway through the 2015 baseball season.

Montana State University Billings shortstop Corey Morris knew the ball was headed right at him, his body bracing for an unavoidable short hop. As the ball kicked off the dirt just a few feet in front of him, Morris tucked his arms close to his body, creating a human shield like a catcher squaring up to knock down a breaking ball in the dirt.

Morris knew he had no chance to catch the ball cleanly, but he also knew that if he didn’t keep it close that his team would enter the bottom of the ninth down a run instead of tied at 4-4. Morris’s expert form in wrestling one of the trickiest plays an infielder can get allowed him to quickly scoop up the ball and sling a sidearm strike over to Kevin Toon at first base.

Beating the runner by half a step, Morris kept the score tied and promptly ripped a one-out double into right field in the bottom of the inning. An ensuing base hit by senior Conner Holbrook brought the game’s hero across home plate, as the ‘Jackets completed the second of three straight wins over the Wolves.

The defensive excellence followed by a clutch performance at the plate was just one example of the season Morris put together as a junior in 2015, as he played his way to first-team all-Great Northwest Athletic Conference honors and helped the ‘Jackets to their first-ever conference title in his first year in the program.

Yellowjacket head coach Rob Bishop had brought Morris in to fill a key vacancy at the toughest infield position, and by the time Morris finished the year he had handled 103 consecutive chances up the middle without an error. Bishop knew he was getting a solid defensive player in the transfer from Walla Walla Community College, but he couldn’t have imagined Morris would hit .353 and reach base at a clip of .406 to become a fixture in an already stacked lineup.

Jump ahead to the end of Morris’s senior year and the way he has been engrained within the program suggests he’s a four-year veteran rather than a junior college transfer. Teammates and coaches alike cite his energetic personality and fierceness as a competitor as the character traits that differentiate the Richland, Wash., native from other players.

Growing up as a hockey player and catching through his high school baseball years explains his toughness on the diamond. His ability to take command of a crucial position and lead a group of seniors to back-toback GNAC Championships is the legacy Morris will leave behind with the Yellowjackets.

TRADING SKATES FOR SPIKES The junior hockey circuit took Morris around the country as a middleschooler, including a trip to nationals in Buffalo, N.Y., at the age of 14.

The game came naturally to him, with the cul de sac he inhabited hosting regular neighborhood pick-up games throughout his childhood.

“In high school I decided size wasn’t on my side to keep playing hockey,” said Morris, who stands at 5-foot-9. “I used up all of my home runs in Little League. I probably hit 60 by my 12-year-old year.”

Entering his sophomore year of high school, Morris headed to tryouts with brand new catcher’s gear when a coach suggested a new look for him on the diamond. “I ended up leading off and playing second base

starting my sophomore year,” Morris said. “I kept catching in summer ball though, and my senior year our catcher got hurt so I caught for my high school team.”

Morris knew he had the ability to pursue a college baseball career, and the nearby Walla Walla Community College program presented itself as a realistic option for Morris to keep playing. When Morris found himself in the company of two freshman catchers who both towered over him, he realized that a transition to a middle infield spot would be necessary to keep him in the lineup.

Crediting WWCC head coach Dave Meliah with molding him into an infielder, Morris commented that his solid background blocking pitches set him up for success at a new position. “Dave was amazing and took a raw catcher and turned me into an infielder,” Morris said. “He loved how I wouldn’t back down in front of the ball, and as my footwork developed the position came to me.”

As Morris developed at the junior college ranks, several of the Walla Walla natives on the Yellowjackets’ roster began to take notice of his skills. “We were in need of a shortstop and I told Coach Bishop about Corey,” commented Toon. “I told coach that Corey would go out and compete at a high level, and he has done nothing but that since he’s been here.”

Morris and Toon had played against each other since Little League, and grew into major rivals when Richland High clashed with Walla Walla High. Both starting as shortstops as senior prep players, Toon and Morris fought against one another for the title as their league’s top player. “I knew it was a toss-up because we played for the two best teams in the league,” said Toon, who eventually edged Morris as the player of the year. “I definitely knew he was the one I was going against, and he pushed me all year. He was just as deserving to get that award as I was.”

Morris batted .353 in his first season with the ‘Jackets and holds a .313 career batting average.

“He got lucky and won it but our team went further in the playoffs,” Morris laughed jokingly as he recalled his final prep season.

BEARDS, DOUBLE PLAYS, CHAMPIONSHIPS “His toughness is contagious. Corey is one of those players who will do anything to make a play for his team. He is the backbone of what has been a solid defense for the past two years.” – MSUB head coach Rob Bishop on senior shortstop Corey Morris.

Shaving cream and a razor couldn’t find its way into Morris’s travel bag quickly enough during the Yellowjackets’ final road trip of the 2015 season to Saint Martin’s. The team still had a chance for a regular-season title, but one loss and Morris would rid himself of seven months-worth of beard that had in many ways come to identify him. “I was ready to shave that thing two months in, but then I started hitting well,” Morris said. “I decided to keep it just to mess around, but then the team started to play really well and I couldn’t shave it.”

What started as no-shave November turned into a rally beard that Morris wore through the final four-game road sweep to win the regular-season title. Picked to finish last in the preseason coaches’ poll, MSUB’s remarkable title run was as big a surprise to the rest of the league as Morris’s season-long maintenance of his beard. “In the fall last year we could tell that we could really hit,” Morris said.

“When we swept four games at NNU reality started to hit that we had a shot not just to make the tournament but win the league.”

Morris wasn’t the only Yellowjacket to sport, according to one umpiring crew, a ZZ Top-worthy beard, as fellow infielder Colter Sternhagen matched Morris’s facial hair growth. This year as double play partners up the middle, the duo has turned 21 double plays and has been the core of a senior defensive unit that has carried the team.

Sternhagen (right) and Morris pose with their beards towards the end of the 2015 season.

Toon has been on the receiving end of the majority of the duo’s throws, handling everything that comes his way despite Morris’s tricky sidearm delivery from across the diamond. One of Morris’s best plays of the year came in a road game at Saint Martin’s to clinch a 3-1 series victory. With two outs in the ninth immediately after turning a double play in a 4-2 ball game, the Saints’ Brandon Witherspoon roped a sharp ground ball up the middle towards center field. Morris laid out and fully extended his arm to the left, and came up firing a two-seam strike to Toon at first to end the

game. “On the ball up the middle his arm angle changes, and it’s a really tough play but he makes it look easy,” Toon commented on Morris. “He throws two-seamers over to me once in a while, and I’ll just laugh and throw one right back to him.”

Morris didn’t take long to insert himself among the upperclassman leaders on the team as a junior in 2015.

He quickly formed a friendship with fellow transfer and third baseman Kyle Durbin, who hasn’t changed Morris’s contact name in his cell phone from ‘Walla Walla Shortstop’ since their initial encounter. While Durbin started the year at shortstop for the ‘Jackets, after the first few games he transitioned to third and gave way to Morris.

“Us being infielders we just kind of hit it off,” Morris said on his now-roommate Durbin. “I’m Yin and he’s Yang; I’m hyper and wild and he’s more cool, calm, and Morris and Sternhagen have turned 21 double plays up the middle for the collected.”

‘Jackets this season.

Now after winning their second straight regularseason title, Morris knows that he and the fellow seniors won’t be satisfied with simply making it back to the GNAC Championships. “For us to host last year and not make it to the championship game makes you want to come back and get even further,” said Morris. “We have a great team up and down the lineup, and if we can put it all together I don’t think there’s a team out there that can stop us.”

ENDING WITH A BANG “Baseball is fun. You just need to stay relaxed out there and have fun with it.” – Corey Morris.

Stepping into the batter’s box in the final home game of his career on Senior Day, Morris looked like the best cleanup hitter in the league. With the bases loaded in the second inning, Morris drove a deep fly ball off the wall in left field as he just missed his first career home run. His next time up he left no doubt, as he turned around on a fastball and easily cleared the fence in left field.

Morris and Durbin have grown into close friends while holding down the left side of the infield for the ‘Jackets.

Morris finished the game 4-for-4 and became just the fifth player in GNAC history with six RBIs in a game. Since the beginning of April, Morris is batting .370 with 23 of his 28 RBIs on the season. “I actually got a bit of advice from Kyle, who told me to move my hands back at Saint Martin’s,” Morris said. “Since then I have been putting the barrel on the ball.”

Morris has confidently handled his role as the No. 4 hitter in MSUB’s lineup as of late, reinforcing Bishop’s confidence that the senior can fill any role the team needs. “Corey’s competitiveness was apparent as soon as he got to this campus and that is still one of his biggest strengths as a player,” Bishop said. “He also brings a commitment to defense that will definitely make an impact on our younger players. I know that he would rather make a big play than get a big hit.”

Despite getting off to a slow start – Morris was batting just .189 through his first 23 games – he has recovered to the tune of a .270 batting average and has kept his two-year career average over .300 at .313. It’s only natural that the player with the feistiest personality on the team also leads the GNAC in being hit by pitches with 17 on the season.

Morris is No. 10 in MSUB career history with 95 hits in just two seasons with the ‘Jackets.

Now as the ‘Jackets prepare to challenge No. 3 seed Western Oregon and No. 1 seed Northwest Nazarene on Day 1 of the GNAC tournament Thursday, Morris is above all else thankful for the opportunity to wrap up his career with the ‘Jackets.

“I have to give a big thanks to my parents, because they have been dedicated to me through everything,” Morris said on his father Bill and mother Kim. “Coach Bishop is the only Division Two coach who recruited me, and without him I wouldn’t be playing either. I’m thankful that he gave me a chance to play.”

Morris poses with his mother Kim and father Bill during Senior Day at Dehler Park.

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