OTTAWA — Since Todd Kein took over the Morris baseball program in the spring of 2006, he has produced 314 victories and eight 20-win seasons.

The latest triumph in both categories came after a decisive, 10-2 Interstate 8 Conference win over Ottawa on Wednesday afternoon at King Field.

Morris (20-3, 12-0 I-8) has now won 13 consecutive ballgames since its last loss almost a month ago and remains undefeated in conference play with a big two-game showdown coming up against Sycamore (19-2, 10-0) next week that will determine this year’s I-8 baseball champion.

“I know it’s cliché, but conference wins are always hard to come by, and 20 wins is always a great accomplishment for any high school baseball team,” Kein said. “That’s the first thing we celebrated together after the win today, and I’m very proud of this team for getting to that level with much more left to do this season.”

Kein turned to sophomore ace Jack Wheeler to carry the load Wednesday.

Wheeler – a University of Illinois commit – threw four solid innings, allowing just two runs and four hits while striking out four and walking one on a limited pitch count of 64 as Morris scored nine runs in the first three innings to give Wheeler and relievers Zach Smolkovich and Landon VanDyke more than enough support.

Wheeler earned his fourth victory of the year on the mound against no defeats.

“I felt good today, just tried to pitch to contact and let my defense make the plays behind me,” Wheeler said. “To be able to get 20 wins this season so far is pretty special, and we’ve still got a lot more to go.”

Ottawa (13-12, 5-7 I-8) fell after spotting Morris four runs in the first, three in the second and two more in the third inning, with Wheeler, Smolkovich and VanDyke in command on the hill for most of the contest.

“When you dig yourself a hole against a good team like Morris, it’s really hard to climb back, especially with what Wheeler has on the mound,” Ottawa coach Tyler Wargo said. “He got into attack mode with a big lead. We had some chances, but really couldn’t get anything going offensively today.

“But you have to give credit to Morris, because they’re a very tough team that may be our conference champion this year.”

Morris plated four runs in the top of the first against Ottawa pitcher Rylan Dorsey after Wheeler (two hits) doubled, an RBI groundout from Griffin Zweeres and a two-run base knock off the bat of VanDyke.

Three more would follow in the top of the second off Pirates relief pitcher Conner Price. Zweeres added an RBI base hit and eventually scored on a wild pitch, while Ximi Baftiri (two hits) singled and closed out the visitors’ half of the second scoring on a dropped-third strike to give Morris a 7-0 lead.

Ottawa would get to Wheeler in the bottom of the second when Ryan Chamberlain (two hits) and Julian Alexander (two hits) each drove in runs to cut the Morris lead to 7-2 after two stanzas, but Morris got those two runs back in the top of the third when A.J. Zweeres stroked an RBI double and plated on a wild pitch that put Morris up 9-2.

The visitors would add an unearned run in the top of the fifth before Smolkovich and VanDyke closed out Ottawa after a harmless frame in the bottom of the fifth, sixth and seventh.

“We’re going to have to play great baseball if we want to win a conference championship, and it’s going to take all that we’ve got to beat a great team like Sycamore,” Kein said. “We’re excited about the opportunity, because we haven’t won a conference title in over a decade, so we’re happy to be in the conversation, happy to be in the place we’re in, and we’ll see what shakes out next week.”