Morris, Minn. – Led by a pitching gem from
Jake Johnson, the Minnesota Morris baseball team opened Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) play with a 5-0 win over visiting Crown this afternoon (Mar. 30).
Johnson pitched his third complete game of the season, scattering eight hits while throwing his first shutout in a Cougar uniform. The imposing 6-4 Johnson struck out a career high 12 batters, holding the purple Storm in check all day.
He didn't have to wait long for help, as his teammates gave him a lead to work with in just the second inning. After a
Jordan Gegen double put
Mike McGill on third,
Eric Terres sent a grounder up to short for his second RBI of the season, allowing McGill to score his second run of the year and give the Cougars the early lead.
Johnson allowed a couple of harmless hits over the next two innings, and in the fifth, the Cougars (1-10, 1-0 UMAC) added some insurance with a
Nick Perrotte single to center, scoring
Scott Peterson and
Neil Arvold.
After a leadoff double in the sixth, Johnson worked out of the closest thing to a jam he had to face all day. With two outs, the runner on second successfully stole third, and Johnson started the next batter off with three straight balls. The bat never left the batter shoulders, and after going down 3-0, Johnson came back with three straight strikes to end the inning, leaving the batter staring into the bright blue Morris sky.
The Cougars added single runs in the sixth and eighth for the final 5-0 margin over the Storm (0-1, 0-1 UMAC), scoring their first shutout since a 2-0 win over Northland on Apr. 22, 2011.
Johnson fanned at least one in each of the last four innings, and now has 21 in his team high 22.0 innings of work on the season. Perrotte and McGill each finished with two hits on the day, with Perrotte also knocking in a season high two in his fifth multiple hit game of the season.
The Cougars return to the bright green grass of Cougar Prairie Field tomorrow for a doubleheader with the Storm, with the first pitch slated for 12:00 noon.
