VERO BEACH – Cody Morgan didn’t think much about potentially becoming the all-time leader in pitching victories at Vero Beach High.
“It kinda came up on me quick,” Morgan said. “I started thinking about it earlier this year when I was getting halfway close. But other than that I kept my head down and worked hard for it.”
The hard work paid off.
Move over Hunter Cooley. There is a new wins leader at Vero Beach High.
In front of his home crowd, Morgan pitched 3 ⅓ innings of one-hit shutout ball in Vero Beach’s 15-0 whitewash of Fort Pierce Central on Friday night in a Class 7A-Region 3 quarterfinal stopped after 3 ½ innings because of the run rule.
It was the 28th win in Morgan’s four-year career with Vero Beach passing Hunter Cooley. Now the pitching coach at Florida Atlantic University, the 2018 graduate Cooley went 27-3 during his career at Vero Beach. He also won 28 games for FAU, second in Owls’ history, before becoming their pitching coach.
Dominant from the start
Morgan surrendered only an infield single to start the second inning. He struck out eight, including four in the third inning, the first time he fanned four in an inning in his high school career.
“Fastball,” Morgan said of what was working. “Really command of it all. Slider when I landed it for a strike it was good. I needed it for a two-strike pitch.
“And having faith in my defense behind me, just knowing they’ll make every play for me is relieving. Just pitch to contact.”
Vero Beach coach Bryan Rahal had nothing except praise for Morgan.
“He epitomizes the culture of Vero Beach baseball,” Rahal said. “Hard working. Tough. Leader. Grinder. I don’t have enough adjectives in my vocabulary to describe what he means and who he is.”
Pitching coach Chris Rahal, Bryan’s brother, lifted Morgan with a 15-run lead after he struck out the leadoff hitter in the fourth, his seventh straight strikeout.
Morgan left to a standing ovation by the large home crowd and received hugs all around the mound from his teammates and Chris Rahal.
“He never cheated me a day since he’s been in this program,” Bryan Rahal said. “He’s been a bulldog. He’s done everything I’ve asked him to do and done it with a smile. I’m very happy for him. We got the win today and with that win he became the winningest pitcher in Vero history. That’s awesome and well deserved.”
It was Morgan’s second victory against the Cobras this season. He pitched a two-hit shutout in a 3-0 victory on Feb. 27.
“He did the same thing against us last time,” Fort Pierce Central coach Josh Watkins said. “He’s a tough kid on the mound, throws a ton of strikes. He did a great job two times against us. Hat’s off to him.”
Morgan passed another Vero Beach standout earlier this season in Hunter Patteson, a left-hander who accumulated 24-5 mark with a 0.94 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 148 innings from 2006-09. A fifth-round draft pick out of the University of Central Florida, Patteson is in the Kansas City Royals’ farm system at the Double A level.
Morgan went 4-0 as a freshman, 11-1 as a sophomore, 6-1 as a junior and is 7-4 this season with a 1.11 earned run average and 89 strikeouts in 57 innings.
During his career, the right-hander had a 1.49 ERA in 202 ½ innings with 242 strikeouts.
“He’s done everything,” Vero Beach designated hitter Caleb Wood said. “He comes out here and practices hard. He’ll be on the mound, in the infield, hitting, he does it all. Great guy. Great teammate. Picks everyone up. Great leader.”
Big first inning calms Vero Beach’s nerves
Vero Beach’s first three hitters of the game scored and the home team had six runs on the board after the first inning.
Leadoff hitter Nate Downey was hit with a pitch and Dom Lopez walked.
Wood added to his area lead in home runs with his fourth of the season, a bomb to deep left-center field.
“Fastball elevated,” Wood of the pitch he drove over the fence. “Got my hands on it and stayed with my plan.”
A three-year varsity starter, Wood finished with four runs batted in, as did senior Jaxon Pomar, who had two doubles and a sacrifice fly.
“The approach coming into tonight was just play with the fellas and do your job,” Wood said. “We always say do your job and we’ll be all right. Get as many baserunners on as we can and we’ll score runs.”
Taking advantage of seven Fort Pierce Central walks, Vero Beach had 17 base runners in three innings.
“We kinda found a way to get guys on and turning it over to the next guy and the next guy,” Bryan Rahal said. “Woody delivered a big blow there. Down the stretch he’s been a nice veteran presence in the lineup. He’s been in these games. And we lean on him a lot. He’s delivered for us. It kinda took that pressure off. And then it got contagious a little bit. You could see some good at bats after that as well. Jaxon Pomar and Hudson (Schlitt) had a great at bat. Guys figured a way to pass it on. One through nine it was a great team effort from an offensive standpoint.”
And it took the pressure off Morgan early.
“Took some pressure off Cody which is good,” Wood said.
“That’s very relieving,” Morgan said. “Pitching with a lead is different than pitching in a zero-zero or 1-1 game. That was really helpful thanks to my teammates.”
It was a win-or-go-home game
It was a do-or-die game before the best-of-3 series in the regional semifinal and final.
The Cobras (10-9) entered as the eighth seed and would have liked nothing more than knocking off top-seed Vero Beach and moving on in the playoffs.
“We didn’t throw enough strikes,” Watkins said after his first season at the helm of Fort Pierce Central. “We can’t walk guys against a great team like that. They hit the ball well. You put them on base and those guys are going to score. And add in we kicked the ball around a little bit in the field.
“That’s how it goes sometimes. We didn’t show up tonight. They did, and we got our tail whooped.”
Watkins was hired late in the process and didn’t have the opportunity to implement an off-season program leading into this season.
“It was a whirlwind for me. I really enjoyed it,” he said. “We’ve got some great kids on this team. I stepped into it late. I wish I had more time to work with the kids. I’m excited with the group we’ve got coming back. Going into year two with an offseason that we can build upon. I’m excited about that.”
His counterpart was just happy to win and move on.
“Baseball is a funny game and all the cliches that go along with it,” Bryan Rahal said. “They’ve got great players over there. Coach Watkins is a great coach. We watch baseball every day at any level. Anything can happen. You get in this game. You prepare and do all the things you need to do to get to this point. It’s what you do on that day. That was huge to get this one out of the way.
“The focus still stays the same.”
“We have something to protect and they have nothing to lose,” Wood said. “We just come out here, protect what we’ve got and have fun.”
Vero Beach will be home for the best-of-3 series with four-seeded Harmony, a 6-5 winner over fifth-seeded St. Cloud in the regional semifinals. The first game is 7 p.m. Friday. The final two games will be played Saturday. All the games are at Vero Beach High.
“Just have to win one game at a time,” Morgan said. “Keep swinging it like we have in practice and the results will show.”
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Cody Morgan breaks Vero Beach pitching wins record
Reporting by Dennis Maffezzoli, Special to TCPalm / Treasure Coast Newspapers
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
