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New Ulm, Minn. – The Minnesota Morris baseball team only took one game of their tripleheader with Martin Luther today (May 3), winning the middle game 4-3, while MLC won the bookends 5-1 and 7-5.

The Cougars fall to 9-17 on the season and are now and even 8-8 in UMAC play, with a major dent put into their conference tournament hopes. They will likely need to take at least two games from Bethany Lutheran to at least force a playoff with Northwestern for the fourth and final spot.

Martin Luther (6-21, 6-12 UMAC) scored three third-inning runs to take the early lead in game one, and never trailed. The Cougars got one back in the fourth, but that was it as the Knights scattered their six hits into six scoreless innings.

Logan Orazem (Mora, Minn.) started and threw 4.0 innings allowing just three hits, but walked four as his record fell to 2-2.

The Cougars came back to even the series in game two on the strength of three seventh inning runs. A pair of walks and a single set the stage for Dustin Sauter (Morris, Minn.) to drive in all three with his bases clearing double.  

Ted Gray (Long Prairie, Minn.) then threw a one-hit seventh to close out the win for his first of the year. He initially came in with two outs in the fourth and threw a shutout for the final 2.2 innings.

In the rubber match the Cougars got out early, breaking open a scoreless game with a three-run fourth, doing so on just one hit while taking advantage of a Knight error in the inning.

The Knights came back with two in the bottom if the inning, and after one from the Cougars in the fifth, the Knights tied it at 4-4. After Morris was held scoreless in the top of the sixth, Martin Luther put the game away with three runs in the bottom.

Nate Haseman (Butterfield, Minn.) started and went 4.0 innings, allowing just two hits and two runs before leaving with the no decision. Lee Arvold (Blaine, Minn.) came in to pitch the sixth, and allowed three runs on three hits to suffer the loss to fall to 2-5 on the year.

Sauter led the way at the plate with a team high six hits in six at-bats, also scoring three runs with three RBI. Austin Pinke added three hits, while Drew Lundquist (North Branch, Minn.) finished with two, ending his hit-streak at 16 games. His first game without a hit since the spring trip came in game two today.

The Cougars will now host Bethany Lutheran in the final series of the regular season this weekend, playing one game on May 6, and a doubleheader in the season finale on May 7.