DULUTH, Minn. - No. 3 seed Minnesota Morris opened the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Baseball Tournament Thursday against No. 2 seed Bethany Lutheran. In the matchup of two 12-4 UMAC teams, the Cougars led by three runs in the fifth, but Bethany staged a comeback and topped Minnesota Morris, 7-4.

The Cougars will next play at 1 p.m. Friday in Duluth in an elimination game against the loser of Thursday night's game between St. Scholastica and UW-Superior.

Bethany scored in the first to take an early lead, but the Cougars answered with a run in the third to tie it. Chandler Erickson started the frame with a triple down the left field line and later scored on a wild pitch.

Minnesota Morris took the lead the fifth by scoring three runs all with two outs. Again, it was Erickson leading off the frame with a single and a steal of second. Connor Spindler walked. Two batters later, Donnie Mavencamp brought home Erickson with an RBI single up the middle. Blaise Fairbanks followed with an RBI single to right center to plate Spindler then Lucas Luedtke drove in Mavencamp with a single through the left side.

The lead was short lived however as Bethany countered with four in their half of the fifth and took a 5-4 advantage.

Bethany added single runs in the sixth and eighth innings.

The Cougars collected 11 hits with Erickson, Evan Ellingworth, and Mavencamp each getting two a piece.