Westmont College Athletics

By Tim Heiduk
June 20, 2019
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Senior center fielder Bryce Morison earned further national recognition after being selected to the 2019 ABCA-Rawlings-NAIA Baseball Gold Glove Team, as voted on by the NAIA Baseball Coaches Association All-America Committee.
 
Morison, who two weeks ago was named an NAIA Second Team All-American, becomes just the fourth Warrior to earn NAIA Gold Glove honors. Morison is the first Westmont baseball player ever to be an All-American and an NAIA Gold Glove recipient in the same season.
 
"It's just a highlight to an incredible season and an awesome career," said head coach Robert Ruiz. "I couldn't think of anybody more deserving, with his work ethic and the type of person he is. It's fun when people like that get rewarded."
 
Morison recorded a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage while tallying 133 putouts and five assists on the season.
 
"His outfield assists were really high. He threw guys out consistently," said Ruiz. "He made some game changing plays in the gaps and we have a pretty big outfield, especially in that left-center gap. With his ability to cover that, he won a lot of games for us this year with his glove."
 
Throughout the spring, Morison made numerous eye-catching plays in center field, but one play in particular stood out to Ruiz.
 
"He had a big inning-ending outfield assist against The Master's in that four-game series that we swept, that pretty much saved our season," said Ruiz. "There were several others, but that is one that I remember because that weekend was so important for us in sweeping that series and is probably what gave us the chance to be in the position we were to host a regional and do some things that we did late in the year. He obviously did it with the bat that weekend too, so it gets overshadowed, but he hardly sat an inning this season because he was too valuable to take off the field."
 
Morison, who was named NAIA Baseball Player of the Week for his performances during that four-game sweep of The Master's, began his Westmont career as a shortstop, but transitioned to center field at the beginning of his junior season.
 
"I think what's most impressive about Bryce, and most people probably don't know, is that he was an infielder his entire life," said Ruiz. "I've made the comment all year that he was like a self-made superstar. He progressed tremendously at the plate offensively, but he also turned into one of the better center fielders we've ever had and him getting the national Gold Glove is an unbelievable accomplishment for a guy that really had to convert into a position he'd never really played.
 
"It's a glimpse into the type of guy and teammate he is," said Ruiz on Morison's willingness to switch positions. "It was, 'You tell me what's best for the team and I'll find a way to do everything I can to be good in that role.' By the end of the fall in his junior year, he made it very clear that he was ready. The first semester there were some trials and challenges of learning the position, but he's adaptable. He figured it out quickly and just took off from there."
 
This latest honor adds to the impressive list of postseason awards Morison has already received, having previously been named to the All-GSAC team, GSAC Gold Glove Team, and NAIA All-America Second Team, culminating one of the best single seasons in program history.
 
"All the credit goes to him," said Ruiz. "He poured into his own development and really took ownership of where he wanted to go as a player. I'm confident he can walk away from this experience saying he proved how good he was and he left nothing on the table. I think as an athlete, there's really nothing else that you hope to accomplish than to be able to walk away without any regrets and he's certainly one of our guys that can do that."