The senior battery mates helped lift Quitman High to the #1 ranking in Class B this spring. This time next year Luke Morgan and Ty Simonelli will be at it again, the difference being they will be playing for their respective colleges.
In front of a large audience assembled in the gymnasium of Quitman High the pair made it official where they would continue their baseball career. Fortunately for family and friends, both will not be far from home. Morgan is going to Alexandria, LA to play for Louisiana Christian University, formerly known as Louisiana College, while Simonelli will be playing for Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC) in Bossier City.
While Morgan is thought to be the first local baseball player to ever sign with Louisiana Christian, Simonelli is the second from Jackson Parish to sign with BPCC this year alone, joining his friend and Weston High senior Caleb Waters.
Unheralded at the beginning of the season, Simonelli first burst into the view of college scouts after back-to-back strong pitching performances where he struck out 9 & 10 against Grant and South Beauregard, a pair of top ten teams in Class 3A. The right hander followed that up with a masterful shutout of current #2 and defending Class B state champion Choudrant and then impressively beat Class 4A Minden. In 31 innings the righthander has struck out 51 and walked only 16 to compile a sterling 2.011 ERA.
It is a different story for Morgan. The catcher, who will most probably will play infield at LC, made his name last year when he became what is known as a 40-40 player, by scoring 40 runs and stealing 41 bases. His .500 batting average was also among state leaders. With Quitman playing 16 of their first 17 games against schools from higher classifications, most who had winning records, Morgan still managed to compile a .367 batting average and an 1.010 OPS (on base plus slugging) percentage. While he didn’t reach 40-40 status this season, once again he led Quitman in runs scored and stolen bases.
