Morgan County has witnessed the baseball soaring off its bats in recent weeks.
Literally.
The Dogs (19-2, 7-0), ranked No. 1 in Class AA, have been hitting the ball exceptionally well lately.
“We’re beginning to hit our stride offensively, and we’ve reduced our strikeouts like we needed to,” Morgan County head coach Steve Westmoreland said. “We’re making solid contact with the ball, and it’s been well-distributed throughout the lineup. Some players who weren’t hitting well are now performing much better.”
As a result, Morgan County is scoring more runs. The Dogs are averaging around eight runs a game so far this year.
Westmoreland believes that his team is performing better overall since the bats have heated up.
“Offensively, that’s probably been our biggest change. We’re scoring more runs,” Morgan County’s second-year coach added. “I don’t know if that has to do with not facing the elite arms we encountered earlier in the year, but I’ve been really pleased with how we’ve been swinging the bat at the plate. We’re also still pitching very well on the mound and playing solid defense. That’s been our recipe for success this season.”
Caylem Richardson, Hudson Reed, Ethan Whitlow, Robert Pearson, Drew Ainslie, Cad Braswell, Ty Tillery, and others have contributed to the team’s offensive explosion. They’ve all been consistent hitters.
As a team, Morgan County’s offense boasts a batting average over .300, with several players surpassing this threshold. The Dogs have also hit approximately a dozen home runs, with Reed contributing to more than half of that total.
In a doubleheader last Friday against region rival Jackson, Tillery was unstoppable at the plate. The Georgia commit went a perfect 7-for-7, including a grand slam. Tillery also drove in five runs and scored five times.
“It was pretty incredible,” Westmoreland said of Tillery’s performance in the doubleheader against the Red Devils.
The Dogs completed their sweep of Jackson on Friday with two wins. However, their bats weren’t as hot in their victory over the Red Devils two days earlier, when the offense connected on pitches but only scored four runs on seven hits.
Westmoreland expressed frustration that the balls appeared to be hit straight to the opposing team.
“We left the first game at Jackson with a 4-1 win, and we really felt it was one of our better offensive days,” he said. “We made solid contact with a lot of balls, but everything seemed to find the glove; we couldn’t find any grass, and Ty was one of those guys who was extremely frustrated.
"He hit a couple of balls really hard, but went 0-for-4. You could tell things were going to even out, but what he did on Friday was just impressive. I mean, Ty was hitting the fastball; he was hitting the breaking ball. It was a little different every time he stepped up to the plate, and if they made a mistake, he made them pay. It was fun to watch.”
Westmoreland hopes the bats can remain consistent as Morgan County continues region play against Pike County this week.