ST. PAUL, Minn. - Playing at the home field of the St. Paul Saints (CHS Field), Minnesota Morris earned a split of a non-conference baseball doubleheader Friday against Hamline.

In the nightcap, the Cougars jumped out to a 4-1 lead after 2 1/2 innings. The scoring started in the first when Donnie Mavencamp delivered a two-out, two-run single through the left side to score Jackson Gessell and Connor Spindler.

The Cougars added two more in the third off the bat of Evan Ellingworth who unloaded his first home run of the season, a two-run shot, over the left field wall to give UMM a 4-1 lead.

Minnesota Morris picked up a key run in the fourth to add to keep their lead. Chandler Erickson delivered another key two-out, run-producing, hit as single to left plated Thomas Eckstein to make it 5-2 Cougars.

UMM worked on keeping their lead the rest of the way. The Pipers added single runs in both the fourth and sixth innings to close the gap to 5-4 going into the seventh and final inning. Tyler Hannan came on and picked up his third save of the season as he allowed just one base runner to preserve the win for Sam Melchior who threw the first six innings, allowing four runs and seven hits.

This marked the Cougars first win over Hamline since 2000.

The Cougars outhit Hamline, 12-5, in the opener, but fell by that same, 5-4, score.

Minnesota Morris fell behind 5-0 before staging a comeback effort. They scored three times in the fourth to trim the deficit to two. One more run crossed in the seventh and the Cougars had the tying run in scoring position before a fly out ended the game.

Minnesota Morris (6-13) heads to Duluth tonight in advance of their UMAC openers Saturday against St. Scholastica.