Anyone who watched Cawood High School play baseball in the early 1990s probably noticed Steven Morris often igniting the Trojans’ offense from the top of the order. Morris’ son, Brayden, did a pretty good imitation of his dad Friday in the first round of the Area 4 Tournament (ages 9-10) at Huff Park. Morris, whose dad is an assistant coach, pounded out a double and three singles to lead Harlan’s 18-hit explosion in a 14-4 four-inning win over Tri-City.

“Brayden has hit the ball well for us all year long. I’m real proud of this whole team,” said Harlan All-Stars coach Jamie Johnson, who was also a baseball standout at Cawood. “We’ve worked these kids all year and really concentrated on hitting. They have hit the ball well all year during the season.”

Morris was also in charge on the mound as he pitched a six-hitter with eight strikeouts and two walks.

“Brayden pitched for us during the regular season, and he’s real consistent throwing strikes,” Johnson said. “He’s a good pitcher, and our defense was pretty good. We’ve got some things to work, but we’ve got a pretty good team.”

Gunnar Johnson, the son of the Harlan coach, pounded out three singles and drove in two runs from the cleanup spot in the order. Chris Rouse added a double and single and drove in four runs. Jesse Gilbert singled twice. Luke Luttrell had a triple. Landon Myers and Sabby Mosley contributed doubles. Rydge Lewis, Grant Shelton, Sawyer Hensley and Colby Shepherd added one single each.

Carson Clark and Brayden Casolari led Tri-City with two singles each. Jordi Jackson had a double. Braxton Bowen added a single.

Clark suffered the loss as he allowed seven runs on nine hits in two innings, with three strikeouts and no walks. Brayden Casolari gave up five runs on five hits in 1/3 of an inning. Jayden Casolari allowed two runs on four hits in 2/3 of an inning.

Tri-City went on top early as Clark and Brayden Casolari had two-out hits followed by a walk to Zayden Casolari. Jackson drove in two runs with a double for a 3-0 lead.

Morris doubled to lead off the bottom of the inning, moved to third on an error and scored on Johnson’s hit.

Kolby Watts was hit by a pitch in the second inning and scored on a wild pitch to extend the Tri-City lead to 4-1.

Harlan broke through for six runs in the second inning on singles by Gilbert, Shelton, Shepherd, Morris and Johnson. Myers ripped an RBI double and Luttrell followed with an RBI triple for a 7-4 Harlan lead.

Tri-City had a chance to answer in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases with no outs before Morris worked out of the jam with three straight outs.

Harlan blew the game open with six more runs in the fourth inning as Lewis, Hensley Morris, Rouse, Johnson, Mosley and Gilbert had hits.

Harlan ended the game via the 10-run mercy rule as Morris led off with a single, stole second and scored on Rouse’s hit.

Harlan will play Hazard at 11 a.m. on Saturday for the Area 4 championship. Tri-City will play the loser on Sunday for second place and a berth in the District 4 Tournament.

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Tri-City 310 0 — 4. 6 4

Harlan 166 1 — 14 18. 3

Clark, B. Casolari (3), Z. Casolari (3) and Z. Casolari, Lloyd (3); Morris and Rouse. WP — Morris (1-0). LP — Clark (0-1).