Morgan is ranked No. 1 in Class 2A by CoachesBox.com following a strong start to the 2025 season.
The Dogs boast a 13-2 overall record and a 1-0 mark in the region after Tuesday’s road win over Rutland.
Morgan County head coach Steve Westmoreland intentionally made his team’s non-region schedule challenging. He stated that he wanted his players to face tougher competition early in the season to prepare them for the playoffs.
“We’re really happy with where we are,” Westmoreland said. “We haven’t been as consistent as we would like to be at times, but we’ve won some games we probably shouldn’t have won, and we’re finding a way to overcome some adversity at the same time. We’ve improved and we’re getting a little bit better each time out.”
The Dogs have several quality wins and played a challenging non-region schedule. They’ve defeated several teams in higher classifications and are undefeated against opponents from Georgia. Their only losses have come to Glenwood and Hewitt-Trussville, two top-10 teams from Alabama in several online polls.
At the beginning of the month, Westmoreland’s squad took part in the LaGrange Toyota Invitational in Troup County. They competed against several out-of-state teams and finished the tournament as runners-up.
Morgan County lost to Glenwood, the No. 2 team in Alabama’s Class 3A, 8-5 in the first game. The Dogs then defeated Foundation Academy (Florida) and Spanish Fort (Alabama) before facing Hewitt-Trussville, the top-ranked team in Alabama’s Class 7A, in the finals. The Huskies won the tournament with a 7-5 victory.
“We told them (the guys) on the way down that you can go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows,” Westmoreland said. “We didn’t play very well [against Glenwood], and we started the tournament pretty low, but we played extremely well in the last three games.
“People who are really familiar with high school baseball, particularly in the Southeast, know how tough that tournament is. If you can go through that and finish as the runner-up, it’s really good recognition for your program, not just across the state, but the Southeast.”
Westmoreland and his staff set the bar high after losing to eventual state runner-up Calvary Day in the second round of the Class 3A state playoffs last year. The team returned many talented players who were already battle-tested, and they were hungry after last season’s disappointing end.
Westmoreland understands that his team doesn’t always play to its full potential. However, he and his staff encourage their veteran-led group, powered by a strong junior class, to keep striving to improve on a daily basis.
“We’re trying to establish a standard,” the second-year coach explained. “There’s a level of expectations, and some days, we’re just not quite at that standard, whether it’s our energy, our effort, or our lack of execution at times. We’re still doing the little things wrong, like missing signs and striking out too much. It’s just some little things that, as we get closer to the playoffs, we’re just going to have to be better at.”