DULUTH, Minn. – The Minnesota Morris (15-23) baseball season came to an end on Thursday with a pair of loses in the UMAC Tournament. The Cougars lost to number one seed St. Scholastica (29-9) 11-0 in seven innings in the early afternoon game. In the following game Morris dropped a 3-2 decision to Wisconsin-Superior (16-18).
The Cougars and Saints game was scoreless after three innings of play; Morris had a runner in scoring position in each of the first two innings but could not drive the runner in from second. In the bottom of the fourth inning Scholastica exploded for eight runs on seven hits and two UMM errors. Three straight singles through the right side put CSS up 3-0. An error allowed another run to score before four more unearned runs crossed the plate in the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning St. Scholastica scored three more times to give them an 11-0 lead. Morris threatened to break up the shutout in the seventh but left a pair of runners on base to end the game.
Minnesota Morris was more competitive in the second game of the day, but fell behind in the game early. Superior took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning, scoring on a one out fielder's choice. Morris tried to counter in the top of the fourth but left runners on second and third.
The Yellowjackets doubled their lead in the bottom of the fourth with a single to center field.
Donnie Mavencamp made it 2-1 with a RBI single to short in the fifth but Morris left the bases loaded. The hit for Mavencamp was his 100
th of his career.
Morris tied the game up in their next at-bats, as
Bryce Jergenson drove in
Trent Johnson. Unfortunately, UMM left the bases loaded for the second straight inning.
The game did not stay tied for very long; Superior would counter with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to retake a one run lead. Morris did not get a runner on until the top of the ninth when
Jackson Gessell reached on a dropped third strike. The Cougars could not take advantage of the opportunity as a fly ball to right field ended the game and the season.
