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Morris, Minn. – Behind the dynamic play of shortstop Eric Terres and a pitching staff that allowed just one earned run over two games, Minnesota Morris baseball team wrapped up a three-game series sweep over Crown today (Mar. 31),  winning each game by 7-1 scores to open conference play 3-0.

Terres went a combined 4-for-4 at the plate over the day's two games, also walking twice, while scoring four runs and knocking in two more.  But most impressive was his 5-for-5 mark stealing bases, leaving him 13-of-14 already on the young season. Just a freshman, he leads the team with a .371 batting average and nine runs scored.

On the mound, starters Logan Orazem and Ted Gray were equally as effective, allowing just two runs (one earned) while striking out eight batters and walking just four. Each went the distance, charting the first complete games of their careers.

Morris now sits a atop the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) standings with a perfect 3-0 mark, beginning league play with a three-game sweep for the first time since joining the league in 2004.

Everyone who played had at least one hit, with Mike McGill, Nick Perrotte and Chris Thompson joining Terres with multiple hit performances. Perrotte leads the team with 14 hits on the year, while his .341 average is third. Kyle Glaser led all players with three RBI on the day, doing all his damage in the first game for the first three RBI of his young career.

In that first game, the Cougars (3-10, 3-0 UMAC) broke open a 1-0 game with a three-run third, putting together a little one-out rally to score three runs on three hits.

Orazem was in cruise control all game, not allowing a hit until the fifth inning, and just five all game. He nearly gave the Cougars their second straight shutout, holding Crown (0-3, 0-3 UMAC) off the board until one harmless run crossed the plate with two outs in the seventh.

Gray allowed just eight hits in his outing, giving up his only run in the fifth, before working out a jam to end the inning and preserve a 3-1 Cougar lead at the time. After a single and a fielding error put a runner on third, the next batter brought him home with a single to center, brining the tying run to the plate with just one out.

Gray then struck out the next batter, but gave up an ensuing single to put runners on first and second with two out. Crown then got their fourth hit of the inning – and infield single to short – but Terres flashed his defensive abilities chasing down the lead runner as he rounded third to tag him out just before he reached the plate, ending the inning.

The Cougars rode the momentum and plated four more runs in the bottom of the inning, banging out five hits and capitalizing on three Storm errors. Gray allowed just one hit over the final two innings as the Cougars closed out the sweep.

One of just two 3-0 teams in league play after the first weekend, the Cougars return to action with a single nine-inning game on the road at Presentation on Tuesday (Apr. 3). Then next weekend, they'll battle the only other unbeaten in St. Scholastica, taking on the Saints in Duluth, Minn. in a three-game series Apr. 6 and 7. Morris and St. Scholastica will play one game at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, and a 12:00 noon doubleheader on Saturday.