MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team (2-11, 0-2 UMAC) dropped its Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) opening series against the Bethany Lutheran Vikings (8-11, 2-0 UMAC) Saturday afternoon. Bethany Lutheran picked up a 5-0 win in the opener before topping the Cougars 8-5 in the finale.
Senior Blaise Fairbanks went 4-for-7 on the day, which included a key three-run double in the third inning of the second game to tie the game at 5-5.
Game One Recap
Bethany Lutheran took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first and never looked back. The Vikings then scored a run in the fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth to secure the 5-0 win.
Game Two Recap
After taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning, Bethany Lutheran scored four runs in the second inning to extend its lead to 5-0.
Trailing 5-0 heading into the bottom of the third, the Cougars scored five runs to things up at 5-5. For the Cougars in the third, Alex Baumann singled down the left field line to get Minnesota Morris on the board. Three batters later, Nick Peterson drew a walk to bring home Logan Graves. With the bases still loaded, Fairbanks doubled to left field to score Peterson, Blake Haugen and Baumann, which tied the game at 5-5.
The tie game didn't last long as the Vikings scored a run in the top of the fourth to take a 6-5 lead. Bethany Lutheran then scored twice to make it 8-5 in the top of the sixth.
Minnesota Morris will now host Crown in a UMAC doubleheader on Monday, April 8, beginning at 1:30 p.m. The series was originally scheduled for Wednesday, April 10, at Crown, but was moved to Morris.