There was no mystery that coming into the season Morris would have a lot of production to replace from last year. A wealth of four-year varsity players graduated, Jack Wheeler, now with the Texas Rangers.

As such, it’s not too surprising that Morris has had an up-and-down season, often alternating between winning back-to-back games and dropping back-to-back games.

Still, coach Todd Kein has been doing this for more than two decades and knows about winning in the playoffs.

It was just the regional semifinals, but winning in the playoffs is exactly what Morris managed to do on Thursday.

After falling behind in the first inning, Morris pulled away as the game went on to secure an 8-1 victory over Plano in the Class 3A Joliet Catholic Regional semifinal.

Morris (16-18) went into the postseason as the third seed in the Washington Sectional while Plano was the sixth seed. That’s to say Morris was favored, but the Reapers were a very young team that grew as the season went on.

That growth was evident in the first inning when Julian Gates smacked a double to score Eric Nunez and put Plano up 1-0. The Reapers’ youth was also evident, however, as they committed three errors and surrendered three walks in key situations.

Meanwhile, six Morris batters combined for 12 hits while Bryce Lee had one of his best all-around games of the year. The senior went 3 for 4 with two RBIs at the plate and struck out eight on the mound.

The Purdue Northwest commit bent in allowing nine hits, but he never broke, walking one and not allowing another run after the opener.

“It’s cliche but we firmly believe that it all starts on the mound,” Kein said. “He’s the guy that goes out there and sets the tone. Even though they put that early run across I could tell very early on he was going to settle in nicely and that’s exactly what he did.”

For his part, Lee credited his teammates with putting him in a strong position on the mound.

“I want to shout out Grady Hutchraft for making the last catch of the game,” he said. “Landon Norris had a great day at short stop. Nothing I do on the mound is possible without the guys behind me.”

Kein credited the run support for making Lee’s job easier. In addition to Lee’s bat, Landon Norris went 3 for 3 with three runs while Mick Smith and Cade Laudeman had two hits a piece as well with RBIs.

“Today you saw a little bit of our contagious hitting,” Kein said. “That’s been a thing for us at times this year. It was timely for our first postseason game. Once that dam broke it helped give me confidence in our kids.”

As the record would indicate, Morris’ hitting this season has been streaky. That streak was hot on Thursday, particularly in the third inning when Morris put up half its runs in four separate at bats.

With that being said, they’ll be hoping to build consistency as the playoffs continue.

“At this time of the year you can’t have an off day in one of the key facets of the game,” Kein said. “That’s the way the postseason is built. We have to have strong pitching, keep moving the baseball and continue fielding which I thought we did a really good job of today.”

Plano (14-21-1) did have bright spots to be encouraged by. Collecting nine hits against a talented pitcher like Lee will be something to hang their hats on for the future, especially with so much production returning for 2027.

“I just told my seniors I’m really proud of them for creating a culture of grinding to earn the position,” Plano coach Tyler Mulligan said. “I told (Kein) before the game I started three freshmen and two sophomores. The growth and improvement throughout this year has been so impressive and I can’t wait to see them keep working.”

Plano was led by Beckett Schwartz, who went 3 for 3.

Morris will play second seed Joliet Catholic at 10 a.m. on Saturday for the regional title.