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Box Score One
Box Score Two

Morris, Minn. – The Minnesota Morris baseball team dropped a pair of heartbreaking one-run games to visiting Bethany Lutheran today (May 7), as they fell 3-2 and 4-3 respectively.

The losses end the Cougars (9-20, 8-11 UMAC) season, eliminating any hopes of a last-minute berth in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) tournament next weekend.  

Each game today went down to the Cougars' final at-bat, and each time they had the tying run in scoring position.

In the first game, the Cougars' were already staring at two outs in the seventh, but had Ian Olson (Granite Falls, Minn.) on second with Nick Perrotte (Aruba) coming to the plate. Perrotte sent a single to left field and Olson was waved around third for the potential tying run. However, the throw from the outfield was right on the mark, and Olson was gunned down at the plate, ending the game.

The game ending play came just one batter after Mike McGill (Omaha, Neb.) had driven home Drew Lundquist (North Branch, Minn.) with a sacrifice fly to get the Cougars within one at 3-2.

In the second game, the Cougars were again batting for the game in the seventh, and had already put together a five-hit rally and brought two runs across the plate with just one down in the inning. McGill came up with the bases loaded and the Cougars down 4-3, but laced a grounder to the second baseman for the 4-6-3 double play to end the game.

Kyle Grote (North Branch, Minn.) started out the inning with a long foul ball out to right field, but the Cougars responded with five straight hits, including RBI singles from Lundquist and Jordan Gegen (Anoka, Minn.) to bring the Cougars back in the game.

Bethany (25-8, 18-2 UMAC) entered the seventh inning of game two with a 4-1 lead after crossing four runners in the fifth to break open a scoreless tie. For the game the Cougars out-hit the Vikings 12-to-9, meaning twice in the three-game series Morris out-hit Bethany but was unable to secure the victory.

Despite just three hits in the first game, the Cougars struck first, as Austin Pinke (St. James, Minn.) scored on a wild pitch in the fourth for the 1-0 lead. The lead would stand until the sixth when the Vikings scored all three of their runs, coming off of just two hits. An early Cougar error saved and out for the Vikings and left the extra runner on base, eventually leading to a pair of RBI singles and a sac fly as they took the lead.

The Cougars then went down in order in the sixth, before their seventh inning rally was cut short with the play at home.

Nate Haseman (Butterfield, Minn.) pitched 5.1 innings with just five hits and three runs in the first game, but suffers the loss to fall to 1-2 on the year. Ted Gray (Long Prairie, Minn.) came on in relief and three shutout ball over the final 1.2 innings, allowing just one hit.

Logan Orazem (Mora, Minn.) started and pitched 4.1 inning in game one, allowing just three hits and two runs as he falls to 2-3.

Lundquist ends the year as the team batting leader with a .430 average and 43 hits, while Olson leads with 21 runs scored and 18 RBI.

At 8-11 in UMAC play the Cougars finish the conference season in fifth place, and just two wins shy of a berth in the conference tournament.