AUBURNDALE, Fla. - The Minnesota Morris concluded a busy stretch of games Sunday at the RussMatt Invitational in central Florida with a pair of close losses to Lesley University.

In the opener, the Cougars fell behind 6-0 after one inning, but worked to claw their way back until the end. Joey Hyde settled down after the rough first and allowed only two runs the rest of the way to get the seven-inning complete game.

The Cougars scored single runs in the second and third and then two more in the fourth to trim the deficit to 6-4. In the fourth, Chandler Erickson had a key double to put two runners in scoring position. Lucas Luedtke drove in a run on a groundout and Jackson Gessell had a run-producing single.

Lesley scored twice in the sixth to make it 8-4, but the Cougars countered with two in their half of the frame. Evan Ellingworth delivered a 2-RBI single.

Minnesota Morris dropped the second game in extra innings (8 innings), 4-3.

The Cougars used four hits to plate two runs in the fifth that gave UMM a 3-2 edge. The first of the runs scored on a sacrifice fly from Luedtke. Donnie Mavencamp drove in Erickson with a single that gave the Cougars the lead.

Lesley scored in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 3 and it would remain that way until the eighth. Lesley loaded the bases with no outs and won the game with a walk-off sacrifice fly.

Minnesota Morris (2-10) returns home to host Maranatha Baptist a week from Friday for their home opener.