When Andrew Morris stepped on the Colorado Mesa campus as a 16-year-old in the fall of 2018, the plan was to redshirt the right-hander who graduated two years early from Monarch High School.
Those plans quickly changed when Morris revealed himself as an up-and-coming ace. He landed in the Mavericks’ rotation as a 17-year-old true freshman, won a game at the NCAA Division II World Series and was slated to pitch in the deciding championship game before Mesa fell to Tampa.
Fast forward two seasons, and Morris is hungry to lead the Mavericks to their fifth World Series appearance. Mesa is ranked No. 1 nationally and Morris is the pitching centerpiece of a team that, according to fellow RMAC coaches, is the best coach Chris Hanks has had in his 23-year tenure in Grand Junction.
“As a freshman in 2019, (Morris) was between 86 and 90 (mph), and had increased to about 88 to 91 by the super regional,” Hanks said. “Now, two years later, he sits 92 to 94 and flashing 95, 96, and the scouts are just driving me crazy. I got a call (Monday) that there’s some national cross-checkers coming this weekend.”
Morris is technically a sophomore athletically due to the NCAA granting an extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic. But the 6-foot, 170-pounder is a junior academically and will be eligible for July’s MLB draft. So far this season, he is 5-0 with a 2.49 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and one complete game over seven outings (six starts).
But the draft, and a decision on staying or going, is not yet on the 19-year-old’s mind.
“We were so close in 2019, and to watch Tampa celebrate on the field lit the fire under us,” Morris said. “We’re prepared for (another championship moment) and that’s all I’m focused on. Me personally, I’m ready to go and smack anybody in the nose. I’m ready for it.”
As a child, Morris originally began school in Oregon a year early because his birthday was right on the cutoff date for grades. Then, when his family moved to Alaska a few years later, classes were combined between grade levels. In a first-through-third grade class, Morris — a would-be second grader who was already a year young for that grade — entered the Alaskan school system as a third grader.
So when Morris moved back to Colorado and started high school, there was “definitely a learning curve” as a boy trying to compete on the diamond against teenagers.
“I was 12 when high school started, and I was still small and not developed at all,” Morris said. “I looked like a child and it was very easy to tell I was younger than everybody else. Baseball-wise, though, I felt I was just as good as everyone else. I wasn’t throwing hard but I was playing for the freshman team. Once it came to junior year, I was 15 and was older and had gotten taller, developed a little more…. I looked like I kind of belonged at that point.”
Even as he grew physically, Morris still flew under the scouting radar because of an arm issue as a junior. Morris didn’t pitch at all that year due to swelling in his elbow. But Hanks saw his potential, and scrambled to offer Morris (whose prospect status was rising as a senior) a late NLI just before the deadline.
Of course, Morris is not the only highlight for the stacked Mavericks (24-2, 21-1 RMAC), whose lone losses this year came to Northwest Nazarene in the season opener and to UCCS in conference play March 21. Mesa ranks first in the nation with a .408 team batting average, and the majority of its cast is the same as what got the Mavs to the national title game in 2019.
Offensively, the Mavericks are paced by DH/backup catcher Haydn McGeary, who leads the team in average (.510), on-base percentage (.550), slugging (.980) and OPS (1.530) and is second with 10 homers. Also eligible for the draft at the end of the season, Morris called McGeary “the best hitter in D-II, straight up and no doubt.”
“He’s a 6-foot-5, 240-pound catcher, and that’s why we have him and he’s not at a Division I school,” Hanks said. “A bunch of the Division I schools passed on him because they though he was too big to catch… He’s a kid who can fall out of bed and hit. He’s big and physical and he can hit the ball for forever.”
With Morris and McGeary starring, Hanks said Mesa is “good enough to win it all” and earn the program’s first national title. But having lost a pair of championship games, the Mavericks also know that accomplishing that goal lies in the game’s everyday details.
“This team is as good if not better than the previous two title (game) teams,” Hanks said. “We don’t talk about it very much, though, because that goal is out there and that’s clearly what the players want.”
Mesa offensive impact players: McGeary, Jr C Spencer Bramwell, Jr 1B Jordan Stubbings (Legend), Jr SS Chase Hamilton, Jr INF Caleb Farmer, Jr OF Johnny Carr, Jr RF Matthew Turner (Broomfield), Sr OF Tyler Parker, Soph OF Conrad Villafuerte, Soph OF Tanner Garner (Broomfield), Fr INF Harrison Rodgers
Mesa pitching rotation: No. 1 Morris, No. 2 Jr LHP Ryan Day, No. 3 Sr RHP Trevin Reynolds (pitched national title game in 2019), No. 4 Fr LHP Kannon Handy
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