MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris struggled defensively on Saturday and the University of Wisconsin-Superior gladly took advantage, coming away with 6-3 and 17-11 victories in the UMAC doubleheader. The Cougars fall to 5-13 (3-5 UMAC) on the year.

Next up for UMN Morris is a Tuesday trip to Crown College for two more UMAC contests. First pitch of game one in St. Bonifacius is set for 12:30 p.m.

Game One: UW-Superior 6, Minnesota Morris 3
A 2-0 lead after the first inning dissipated in the middle innings for Minnesota Morris and a ninth-inning rally loaded the bases but didn't produce any runs as the visitors were able to hang on. 

Evan Benson and Julien Shadle both had RBI hits in the top of the first, bringing Alex Baumann and Benson home for a 2-0 edge. UW-Superior was quick to pull one back in the second with a solo shot from Christian Garcia.

It was 2-1 until the fourth inning when an error kept the inning alive for the Yellow Jackets to tie the score. UW-Superior then took the lead on a sac fly in the fifth and added another unearned run before the inning was through. Another RBI double in the sixth increased the Yellow Jacket lead to 5-2. In the bottom of the sixth, Lucas Athey was able to get the Cougars one run closer as his single scored Branden Carlson before Athey was tagged out going to second.

In the ninth inning, UW-Superior took advantage of a passed ball and singled with two outs to add an insurance run for a 6-3 advantage. After the Yellow Jackets secured the first out in the bottom of the ninth, the next three Minnesota Morris batters reached base before Matt Tappe secured the save by getting a strikeout and a flyout to close it out.

Cole Mammenga went to 0-2 on the season after giving up four runs (two earned) in 4.1 innings. Logan Graves was 4-for-4 in the game out of the two-hole in the batting order.

Game Two: UW-Superior 17, Minnesota Morris 11
An offensive explosion from UW-Superior in the second game combined with some uncharacteristic errors out of the UMN Morris defense made things tough on the Cougars in the early going.

A stolen base combined with an error from the pitcher, Graves, gave UW-Superior a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. The one lead in the contest for Minnesota Morris came in the bottom of the inning as Yellow Jacket starter Elliot Danhoff walked the bases loaded for Carlson and Joe Pelle to then convert into RBI singles that scored Baumann and Graves for a 2-1 edge after one.

Brandon Rolf cleared the bases for UW-Superior as part of a five-run second inning and the Yellow Jackets never trailed again. Three more runs in both the third and fourth innings made it 12-2.

Minnesota Morris had a pair of small rallies to try to cut into the steep climb it faced. With the bases loaded in the fifth, Carlson was hit by a pitch to score Graves. A pair of wild pitches then allowed two more runs to score to make it 12-5.

UW-Superior reestablished a 10-run lead on a three-run homer from Nick Zezulka. Trailing 15-5 in the seventh, the Cougars were down to their last batter, but Noah Kloss came through with a RBI single to make it 15-6 and Baumann later added a three-run homer in the inning to keep the game going at 15-9.

The Yellow Jackets scored two final runs in the eighth inning to increase their lead to 17-9. Josh Doss got one of those runs back with a massive solo home run down the line in right to make it 17-10 going to the ninth. In the team's last at-bat, Doss was able to bring a run home with a groundout, but Tappe was brought on one more time and he retired the two batters he faced to finish the game off.

Doss was the most effective pitcher in the second game for the Cougars, going the final 3.0 innings and giving up three hits with two runs (one earned) while striking out three. Pelle had the only multi-hit game for the Cougars, going 2-for-4 at the plate.