The Cougar baseball team split a doubleheader with Northland this afternoon, making for a 2 of 3 weekend in conference play.  Under windy and rapidly changing skies, UMM dropped the first game 6-2, but rallied for the nightcap, winning 5-4.

Game 1 Box Score

Pitcher Lee Arvold pitched six strong innings, giving up just two runs.  But some bad breaks in the seventh inning (along with timely Northland hitting) allowed the Lumberjacks to seal the game with four-run surge.

Winds swirled and gusted from the southwest, across the field the entire game.  And if there was any doubt what kind of factor the wind would be, that was answered on the game's first play.

A Northland hitter dribbled a routine grounder to third baseman Josh Ledin who picked it up easily and threw two feet over first baseman Jordan Gegen's head, the ball taken aloft by a concurrent gust of cold air.

But the wind affected both teams and the scrambled for two runs a piece in the first six innings.

Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth, Ledin doubled home second baseman Ian Olson and first baseman Nik Randall to even the game.  Now with men on second and third and no outs, the Cougars looked poised to score more runs, but Mike McGill's suicide squeeze bunt attempt popped up to third baseman who whirled and doubled Gegen who had been charging home on the play.

In the seventh, the Lumberjacks loaded the bases.  Arvold, perhaps tiring, walked home a run.  He was relieved by junior Tom Fox who gave up a double to the next hitter, clearing the bases for a 6-2 Northland lead.

Northland's pitcher, Matt Tannenburg, held UMM to four hits in the game.

Game 2 Box Score

In game 2, both teams nibbled for runs in the middle innings.  Randall, the UMM starter in this game, had to retire in the third due to a blister on his throwing hand.  Junior Kyle Blair came on and pitched 4.1 innings of stellar relief for the win.

Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth, centerfielder Nick Bacon singled home Ledin.  Two batters later, shortstop Matt Peterson doubled, scoring Scott Barta.  A solo shot from Randall, now playing DH, put the Cougars up 5-3.

In the bottom of the seventh, Northland led off with a solo home run, cutting the lead to one.  But Blair got retired the next three batters to end the game.

The Cougars improved to 7-11 in the UMAC this weekend, still trailing Northwestern for the fourth spot.  They have a midweek game with Mayville State on Tuesday and wrap the regular season at home next weekend with three games against Martin Luther College.