MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team saw a ninth-inning lead dissipate into a 6-5 loss in the first game of a UMAC doubleheader on Saturday at North Central University, but the Cougars shook off that disappointment and earned a 13-11 win in the second game of the afternoon. The split leaves UMN Morris at 5-9 (3-1 UMAC) on the season.

The Cougars step away from conference play on April 20 for a 6 p.m. tilt at CHS Field in St. Paul against Hamline University.

Game One: North Central 6, Minnesota Morris 5
Minnesota Morris trailed 3-0 after four innings and 4-1 heading into the eighth before rallying to take a 5-4 edge going into the bottom of the ninth. The Cougars were two outs away from victory before North Central loaded the bases and then delivered a game-winning single to take a 6-5 victory in the first game of the doubleheader.

North Central bolted out to a 3-0 lead after two innings with a two-run jack from Tyler Bloom, followed by a solo shot from Daniel Montana.

The Cougars got on the board in the fifth with a lead-off single from Alex Baumann and a one-out double from Evan Benson to make it 3-1, but the Rams were able to avoid any further damage by leaving the bases loaded to end the inning.

The Rams got their lead back to three with a RBI single in the bottom of the sixth. That lead held until an error in the eighth inning allowed Julien Shadle to score, making it a 4-2 game heading into the ninth. There, three of the first four batters against Jack Parker singled, leaving two on and the score at 4-3. Noah Kloss then delivered a big two-out double to plate Branden Carlson and Tyler Carper, giving Minnesota Morris its first lead at 5-4.

After Logan Graves got the first North Central batter of the inning to ground to third, NCU was suddenly able to take advantage of two hit batters and a walk to load the bases. Chris Harding followed that with a single to left that brought two runs in and ended the game.

Benson led the UMN Morris offense in the game, going 3-for-3 with a pair of walks. Five Cougar pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts in the game. Starter Cole Mammenga whiffed five in 4.0 innings, with reliever Colin Lindgren striking out three in 2.0 innings.

Game Two: Minnesota Morris 13, North Central 11
The second game of the day was crazy right from the start. Minnesota Morris scored four in the top of the first, only to see North Central respond back with four of its own to knot the score after one. The Cougars went ahead for good in the third inning, but a late rally from North Central made things uncomfortable in the late stages of the game.

Baumann was hit to lead off the game and Minnesota Morris proceeded to pound out five hits against NCU starter Justin Torres. Graves, Benson, Shadle, and Lucas Athey all had RBIs in the inning. Three hits, a pair of walks, and an error brought the Rams back on level terms at 4-4 at the end of the first.

Josh Doss and Carlson both walked to start off the top of the third and Shadle brought Doss home with a RBI single. Athey followed with a sacrifice fly that made it 6-4 and a single from Baumann brought Shadle home for a 7-4 lead. A solo home run from Rene Brockman in the bottom of the inning got the Rams back to within two at 7-5, but they would get no closer until the ninth.

Shadle struck again for the Cougars with a two-out RBI in the fourth to score Carlson. UMN Morris tacked on another run in the sixth from a Shadle RBI groundout, leaving the score at 9-5. An error from the Cougar defense in the seventh permitted a Ram run to score and cut the edge to three, 9-6.

Two were out with only one on when Minnesota Morris started a three-run rally in the top of the eighth. Carlson was hit by a pitch and represented the lead runner. Kloss kept the inning going with a pinch-hit single before Blake Haugen drew a walk to load the bases. After that, Joe Pelle drew another walk to force Carlson home and Kloss followed by scoring on an error from the NCU catcher. With the bases still loaded, Graves was hit by a pitch to drive in Haugen for a 12-6 lead.

North Central loaded the bases and recovered to score two runs in the bottom of the eighth. A passed ball with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth was enough for Doss to rush home and score to give the Cougars a five-run cushion going to the bottom of the ninth.

That margin turned out to be just enough. Bloom and Harding each homered to start off the ninth for North Central, bringing the home team back to within two at 13-11. The next two batters were retired, but a walk, a double, and a walk left the winning run aboard before Pelle was able to get a flyout to center to end it.

Carper got the win for Minnesota Morris, striking out 11 in 6.0 innings and moving to 1-2 on the season. Shadle was 3-for-4 with four RBIs to pace the Cougar offense.