MORRIS — Seemingly dead in the water with no life through 6 2/3 innings, the Morris baseball team awoke to a thrilling result.

Down to its last batter with two out in the bottom of the seventh, Morris finally got to Rochelle starting pitcher Brad Cooney, who had been mesmerizing all game long, allowing just two hits to sophomore Jack Wheeler.

But Morris scored two runs to tie up the contest and another to win in walk-off fashion during the bottom of the eighth, coming up with an improbable 3-2, Interstate 8 Conference victory over Rochelle that took an extra inning to decide Friday.

“I would say just abysmal about our performance until two outs in the seventh with nobody on base,” Morris coach Todd Kein said. “But you can’t say enough about our guys’ resolve to find a way to rally when nothing was going right at all for us until the end.

“Tip your cap to Rochelle’s pitcher, because he threw a great ballgame. We’ve scored a lot of runs this season, and today we found a way to grind out a win where we didn’t score many until we needed to. It was a fantastic team win for sure.”

Morris (10-3, 5-0 I-8) stayed unbeaten in conference play. Rochelle (5-7, 3-2 I-8) fell in the most heartbreaking of scenarios.

“[Cooney] was pitching so well, and he had only one out to get the win before Morris finally got to him,” Rochelle coach Jarrod Reynolds said. “The chances of Morris evening the score at that point were pretty slim. But they tied it up, and credit to them for finding a way to win this one.

“I hate to think of moral victories, because this was a tough loss for us, but I’m proud of the way we played today.”

The Hubs would take the initial lead in the top of the second off Morris sophomore starting pitcher Brett Bounds (7 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 6 K, 1 BB) after a sacrifice fly RBI from Aiden Rodriguez plated Garrett Gensler to put Rochelle up 1-0.

They’d add another in the bottom of the fifth to go ahead 2-0 when Colton O’ Rorke stroked a run-scoring double off of Bounds that brought home Rodriguez.

With Cooney (6.2 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 6 K, 1 BB) sailing along, Morris finally struck gold at the last possible moment. There, sophomore Ximi Baftiri coaxed a two-out walk from Cooney. Senior Landon VanDyke then singled to center before Bounds drove in Baftiri with a base hit to left that cut the gap to 2-1.

“It’s not how we get it done, it’s that we got it done, and I was able to get a big hit when we needed it to keep our rally alive. We knew we just had to win today,” Bounds said.

Junior A.J. Zweeres – playing in his first game since a knee injury during football – followed with an RBI single to right that scored VanDyke, and Morris tied the score at 2-2 going into an extra session.

“It’s so good to be back, and when I had the chance to tie things up I was a little nervous,” Zweeres said. “But I calmed down and was able to get the big hit when we needed it the most.”

Morris junior Zach Smolkovich would come on in relief of Bounds in the top of the eighth and sat down Rochelle in order to set the stage for the home team’s fantastic finish.

Junior Cody DelFavero led off with a walk against Rochelle relief pitch O’Rorke, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Sophomore Griffin Zweeres then completed the Morris comeback victory when he stroked a deep bomb to the fence in right-center that tallied DelFavero with the game-winning, walk-off tally.

“I was 0 for 3 on the day with not much going my way at the plate,” Griffin Zweeres said. “I took a rip and sent it to the fence, and we won a game that seemed we couldn’t, but we did, and I couldn’t be prouder.”