ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team fell to Crown College in a UMAC contest, 12-2, in seven innings on Tuesday afternoon. The game was originally scheduled as part of a doubleheader before heavy rains washed out the back half of the twinbill.

Seth Betts gave Crown a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first with a solo home run. The Storm then doubled their lead in the second inning. Though Minnesota Morris cleaned up its defensive play and committed only one error in the game, it came at an inopportune time as Aaron Clogston doubled, stole third and then scored on an error on the throw.

The Cougars came back to tie the game in the top of the third. Michael Nezerka led off with a double and was singled home by Logan Graves. Evan Benson followed Graves with a single and they each moved up a base on a balk. From there, a passed ball allowed Graves to alertly sprint home to make it 2-2.

The tie lasted only until the bottom of the inning as Betts hit his second home run of the game to put Crown back in front, 4-2. The Storm added a run on an RBI groundout in the bottom of the fourth before a big five-run inning in the fifth opened up a wide margin. Rhys Dewick had the big hit in the inning with a bases-clearing double as Crown took a 10-2 lead.

Minnesota Morris was unable to score in the sixth or the seventh and a two-run inning from Crown in the bottom of the seventh pushed its lead to 12-2. That ended the game early, which might have been in the best interests of everyone involved due to the heavy rains that interrupted play late in the game.

With the field in unplayable conditions, the decision was made to call off game two of the day. A make-up date for that game will be announced shortly.

Nathen Carlin (1-3) took the loss for the Cougars on the hill. Graves was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.