Above: Matthew Morris at bat against Venezuela. 72482
BY MICHAEL ESPOSITO
IF Australia is going to close the gap on the world’s best baseball nations, then the Morris clan might be at the forefront of the ascent.
Samuel Morris was a part of an under-18 Australian baseball team that made history by being the first Australian squad to ever win a medal (silver) at a world championships event.
More recently, his youngest brother Matthew represented Australia’s under-16 side at the AA World Championships in Mexico in August and was impressive, particularly with the bat.
He finished the tournament with a batting average of .346 (26 at bats for nine hits and eight runs batted in), and only made two errors in the field.
The Altona North resident played every minute of every tournament bar one game against Chinese Tapei, where he went out half-way through.
His best performance was the team’s first game against even-tual champions USA. He went four from four on the plate and
had four RBIs, as well as making some strong plays in the field.
Australia was leading the US 9-5 in the fifth but some errors in the field cost the Aussies and the US ran over the top of the underdogs to win 21-11.
Morris’s achievements at the highest level for his age group has earnt him a Don Deeble Rising Star nomination, and he is now in the running to win the annual award, which will go to a rising young sports star in the West. As a monthly nominee, Morris will receive $1000, a pair of New Balance runners, and a membership to World Gym in Sunshine.
Australia finished the tournament in seventh, but could have easily played off for a medal, according to Morris.
Australia held the lead against Japan and Venezuela for most of the game, but both times got beaten on the last innings.
“Just playing baseball over there and playing baseball against everyone from all over the world, you see how good everyone is, and you just see how much further the Aussies need to push,” Morris said.
“The Aussies aren’t far off to be honest. We’re closing the gap. Over the past five to six years, the senior sides are playing better at world tournaments, and they’ve become real competitive, instead of just filling in gaps.”
Morris’s next goal is to make the Victorian under-18 side as an underage player and compete in nationals.
If he performs well enough at nationals, he would expect to be invited back to the Major League Baseball Academy Program in the Gold Coast, where he spent seven weeks earlier this year.
He said there was unfinished business from the under-16 championships, in which Victoria finished top after the round robin stage but was knocked out by Queensland in the semi-final.
“When I’m top age again next year, all the boys want to strive and try and win gold to finish it off,” Morris said.
Morris, who plays senior baseball for Port Melbourne and juniors for Essendon, will have a training and playing regime that takes up six days a week if he makes the state under-18 squad.
You could forgive him for treating his school work as a secondary priority, but he says he tried to keep up with as studies as much as possible, even while in the Gold Coast.
When I was at the academy I did school work while I was over there. It was a little tough when I came back, just trying to get back into class and focus for eight hours a day when I was only doing two hours a day at the academy,” he said.
