Cody Morgan hurls complete game, Vero Beach baseball beats Martin County in top matchup

VERO BEACH — In a clash between two of the area's best high school baseball teams, Vero Beach took down Martin County 4-3 on Wednesday.

The game typified a high-powered matchup in the final stages of the regular season. Both offenses were held to one-inning bursts of scoring while pitching and perseverance shined through.

Vero Beach sophomore pitcher Cody Morgan shined with a complete game en route to his eighth consecutive win, lifting the Fighting Indians to an 18-3 record.

“[Morgan] has just got this warrior’s mentality. He’s a competitor, said Vero Beach coach Bryan Rahal. “He always wants to ball, he always wants to be in the moment. As the game went on, he got better and better. That was his game to finish.”

The game quickly got away from Morgan in the top of the second inning as Martin County loaded the bases via two errors and hit batter. Tigers junior Tanner Paskoski posted the night’s first run with a sacrifice fly blooped just past the base path in left field, followed by junior Michael Sanchez’s line drive to bring in two more runners.

Immediately, Morgan locked in, delivered a strike out and quickly changed the sides on the following batter. Morgan struck out seven batters and gave up six hits.

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“When you’re in that second inning, those types of innings happen,” Rahal said. “Our biggest thing was to minimize it the best we could and get out of it.”

With a 3-0 lead, Martin County put three Vero Beach hitters up and three down in the bottom of the second inning before suffering the same fate in the top of the third.

The Fighting Indians jumped out in the bottom of the third inning, opening their scoring night with an RBI double from senior Finley Holmes. With two runners in scoring position and one out, senior Chase Wilson launched a three-run home run past the 355-foot marker in left-center field.

“[Wilson] misplayed a play in the inning where the three-run burst came. Our guys looked at him and said, ‘so what,’” Rahal said. “You can just see his hunger. He’s that type of kid — he wears that and he takes it personal and he wants to make up for it. He’s one of the best kids I’ve ever coached and one of the coolest kids I’ve ever coached. He deserves those moments.”

The homer prompted a pitching change, bringing Martin County senior Anthony Cannata for senior Aiden McGucken. McGucken ended his night with two strikeouts, four hits given up, four runs allowed and one batter walked in 2 1-3 innings.

Despite powerful bats resting in both dugouts, the Morgan vs. Cannata bout took priority as only four more hits were tallied collectively through the remaining 3½ innings.

“Their pitcher was good on the mound. He dominated,” said Martin County coach Brett Hawkins. “They made some nice plays and we just didn’t quite execute when we needed it. They’re a nice team.

“We competed early with the bats,” he continued. “I thought we saw the baseball pretty well, for the most part — did what we had to do against a good pitcher. It's just a shame that one swing of the bat cost us there.”

Vero Beach and Martin County are now two and three games removed from postseason baseball, respectively. Rahal said the game against Martin County represents what the team may face in the playoffs.

“A great opponent like Martin County that’s tough, that’s scrappy, that competes — all three phases of the game they’re very good,” Rahal said. “A game like that, you hope it catapults you and gives you some confidence. As you get in the playoffs, you’re playing great teams. You’re going to be behind at some point.”

The character of the Fighting Indians in the face of adversity stood out as a strong point of his team, Rahal said.

“I'm content with type of kids they are,” Rahal said. “They’re great kids, they’re family and they’ve got a common goal. If I’m ever going to be content, I’m content that they’re great kids, and I enjoyed being around them.

“I’ve got a lineup card in my back pocket right now of things we need to improve on and things that can’t happen,” he continued. “We can’t make our pitcher throw 15 more pitches than he needs to. It comes back to me as a coach, not them as players. That’s my job as a coach to fix and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Cody Morgan hurls complete game, Vero Beach baseball beats Martin County in top matchup