Voyagers' Morris drives in six runs

Jacob Morris has some advice passed down from a coach to thank for his second home run of the night on Friday.

In the top of the ninth inning, with Great Fall ahead by eight runs, he stepped to the plate with the same focus and intensity that had worked for him all evening.

"My at-bat there in the grand scheme of things might not mean anything," Morris said, "but my hitting coach, Charles Poe, is always saying, 'Don't waste at-bats. At the end of the year, when you look back, you're going to see all those wasted at-bats.' I didn't want to see this as a wasted at-bat."

Morris' second dinger capped a six-RBI night as well as the Rookie-level Voyagers 10-1 romp over Billings. The White Sox prospect went 4-for-5, missed the cycle by a triple and scored three runs to help Great Falls complete a three-game sweep.

"I'm just trying to stick with a consistent approach. I get into trouble when I try to do too much. If I try not to do too much and just have a smooth swing, I'm going to have some success," said the University of Arkansas product, who was selected by the White Sox in the 24th round of this year's Draft.

"It is [hard to not try to do too much], at times. As you can tell, I've been striking out a little too much. Usually, I strike out because I'm trying to do too much or I'm not giving myself a chance to see the ball before I start swinging."

That was what happened in Morris' first-inning at-bat against Mustangs starter Pedro Diaz.

"It's not the first time I struck out and it's not going to be the last time. [Voyagers manager] Pete Rose [Jr.] says to me all the time, 'If you have a bad at-bat, follow it up with a quality at-bat,'" Morris said. "You're not worrying about hits, you're not worrying about not striking out again. If an at-bat gets away from you, you can only worry about getting back to your approach, whether you hit the ball hard. Where it goes is where it goes."

Where it went in the fourth inning was over the left-field fence.

"The only thing I was trying to do was just get on base and let the person behind me drive me in," the 22-year-old outfielder said. "I wasn't trying to hit it out of the yard but just to hit the ball hard."

Facing Diaz for the third time, Morris hit an RBI double to spark the Voyagers' four-run sixth.

"I hit the home run in the previous at-bat, so I was just looking for something over the plate. I was trying to not be too aggressive. The pitcher had all the pressure," he said. "I got a good pitch -- he hung a breaking ball and I saw it well and put a good swing on it and knocked it down the line."

Morris plated two more runs with an opposite-field single in the seventh, and by the time he came up in the ninth, Great Falls had an 8-0 lead.

"There was no pressure because I had a good feeling our pitching staff would come in and shut the door with the eight-run lead. I just went up there looking for a good pitch," he said.

Morris also homered Thursday night and has 11 RBIs in his last six games. With 10 homers, he shares the Pioneer League lead with Ogden's Jacob Scavuzzo.

"It's a pretty good feeling. I'm just thankful, it's awesome," he said. "My main focus is just to keep winning games and helping the team get in position where we can make the playoffs in the second half."

Great Falls starter Nick Blount (1-3) gave up three hits and two walks while striking out four over five scoreless innings.

Jose Ortiz spoiled the Voyagers' shutout bid with an RBI double in the ninth for the Mustangs.