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Fort Myers, Fla. – In their first action of the 2012 season, the Minnesota Morris baseball team fell twice to Lakeland, dropping 11-4 and 4-0 decisions as they opened play on their annual Spring Break trip today (Mar. 12).

Ted Gray started and gave up seven runs to suffer the loss in game one, while Jake Johnson took the mound for Morris (0-2) in game two and went the distance, allowing just one earned but also suffering the loss.

The Cougars were out-hit 16-to-6 in the first game of the doubleheader, before being held to two hits in the second. Eric Terres logged one hit in the first game, and each of the Cougars' hits in game two to finish the day as the only player with three hits.

Nick Perrotte and Chris Thompson each had two hits in game one to finish as the only other players with multiple hits on the day.

Batting first in the first game, Lakeland quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead, putting the Cougars in a hole before their first at-bat of the season. Gray settled down and pitched a scoreless second and third, before allowing just one in the fourth. In the bottom of the inning, Chris Thompson got things started with a triple down the line, and was quickly knocked home on a sacrifice fly by Scott Peterson, giving the Cougars their first run of the season.

Gray wouldn't make it out of the fifth, however, as Lakeland pounded home four more to go up 7-1 before adding three more in the sixth and one in the seventh. The Cougars got back three in the bottom of the sixth, including RBIs from Peterson and Perrotte, but it wasn't enough to get back in the game before Lakeland closed out the win.

In game two, Johnson pitched a perfect first and second, and allowed just one run over the first four as the game sat with a 1-0 Lakeland lead heading into the fifth inning.

A lead-off walk was squandered by the Cougars, and Lakeland came back with two runs on two hits in the bottom of the inning, both unearned, taking advantage of a Morris fielding error to open up the game.

The Cougars went down in order in the sixth and seventh, while Lakeland added one more for insurance in the sixth.

At 0-2 the Cougars will continue play with two games tomorrow, taking on Defiance in a noon doubleheader.