Keeping 'humble head' leads Monona Grove's 2-way baseball star to Division I program

Monona Grove's Cal Moreau chose to remain humble during a recruiting process that heated up over the summer.

The junior began garnering attention from Division I baseball programs after making the all-tournament teams for batting and pitching at the WWBA Under-16 national championship in Georgia from July 6-13.

Moreau said a lot of coaches started following him after batting 11 of 14 during the tournament.

"I never wanted to think or expect I would play Division I because then I feel like I'd just get lazy," Moreau said. "I think keeping that humble head is what's got me to where I am now."

Central Florida, Notre Dame, Kentucky, Kansas and Mississippi were the notable programs that contacted Moreau on Aug. 1, the first day he could talk with colleges.

He eventually narrowed his decision down to either Notre Dame or UCF and favored the Fighting Irish ahead of his visit to UCF on Oct. 21.

Moreau verbally committed to UCF one week after returning from the Orlando campus.

He said stepping off the plane into 70-degree weather and having his future dorm room next to the baseball field were the visit's biggest highlights.

"I had four things I wanted," Moreau said, "to go down South, attend a good engineering school, get developed as a player and connect with coaches, which UCF had."

Knights coaches praised Moreau's athleticism, primarily recruiting him to play shortstop.

However, Moreau has the opportunity to continue being a two-way player, something that "I've been doing my whole life," he said.

"One of the pitching coaches said I could get in for an inning or two every once in a while and see where that goes," Moreau said. "I don't mind just hitting or pitching but I definitely like being able to have that versatility."

Monona Grove coach Kevin Connor said Moreau's ability to play both ways is a huge asset with colleges expected to move to 34-man rosters.

"He's the best athlete I've ever coached, with crazy upside and I have no idea what his limit is," Connor said. "I don't think he's reached his full potential as a pitcher but I don't know which side he's going to excel at more."

Moreau will be the Silver Eagles' pitching ace and one of their top batters for the next two seasons until he graduates.

"It's definitely going to be better going into high school now because I can just play my game," Moreau said. "I still have to worry about doing well but you don't have that pressure of all these coaches watching you."

It also affords Moreau the opportunity to become Monona Grove's leader and help younger teammates when they begin the recruiting process.

"It creates a culture that kind of runs itself because when the younger guys see guys they look up to achieving goals, it sets our tone for what we want to accomplish as a team a little bit higher," Connor said.