SUDBURY—Professional baseball teams have to be drooling over a lefthanded pitcher who is only 17 years old and whose fastball has been clocked at 88 miles per hour.
“Yes, I hope to play major league baseball. It’s fun, and I feel you need to enjoy the game,” Ethan Morris, who has strong family ties to Manitoulin, told The Expositor.
Ethan was a pitcher/first baseman on Team Ontario which captured the U18 Baseball Canada Cup in Regina in August. He is the son of Robyn Morris and his grandparents, Kirk and Wendy (Campbell) Strain are both from Gore Bay.
Sudbury baseball mentor Jean-Gilles Larocque of the Sudbury Voyageurs who also owns/operates The Baseball Academy in Sudbury was coach of Team Ontario and he and Ethan both represented Sudbury at the Games.
With Mr. Larocque as the head coach, Ethan, among the 20-man roster Team Ontario, captured the Baseball Canada Cup, stopping British Columbia 11-8 in the final in order to post an undefeated 8-0 record in Saskatchewan.
“I have been playing with the Sudbury Voyageurs travel team this summer,” said Ethan. “I was a pitcher on the team, and I started in the game we played against Nova Scotia.”
Being a member of Team Ontario was a monumental accomplishment in itself. Tryouts for the team began in April with 250 players from across the province gathering for the workouts held in Kitchener and Oshawa. The top 60 players were then invited to Vaughan over the May long weekend as Mr. Larocque and his staff made the tough decisions that led to the final team roster of 20 players.
With all of the players already occupied with their other local squads through the summer, pre-tournament practices were limited to back-to-back days just prior to the team heading west.
“Things got off to a tough start, and we only had two or three days to come together as a team,” said Ethan. “Things came together slowly but by the end we were a good team. Everyone got along really well. We bonded quickly, everyone got along really well. It’s amazing what a common goal will do.”
Ethan told the Sudbury Star that his stint on the mound during the tournament met his approval. “Even thought I didn’t feel like it was my best outing, I was happy with the fact that I kept battling. I’m proud of the fact that I was able to contribute to a national title. The whole experience is something that I will never forget.”
“I was seven or eight years old when I started to play organized baseball,” Mr. Morris told The Expositor. He also happens to be a very good hockey player, “This year is my first not taking part competitive in hockey.”
“Mr. Larocque is the lead of the programs for the Sudbury Voyageurs,” Ethan added. “He is the head of it all. Oh yeah, he has been a big influence on me. He got me into baseball. I would probably be in hockey skates if it wasn’t for him.”
Ethan has also been selected to take part in the 2023 Canadian Futures Showcase player selections. “This program, run by the Toronto Blue Jays, brings together 150 kids from across Canada. We will be gathering at the Rogers Centre in Toronto September 19 for a tournament.”
“I will be going out to high school in Alberta this fall for further training and exposure,” Ethan continued. He will be attending Foothills High School located just outside of Calgary, Alberta. The Toronto Blue Jays are flying him out to Calgary, back for the Showcase event, and then back to Calgary.
