MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team suffered two difficult losses on Saturday to Bethany Lutheran College, falling by scores of 9-6 in 11 innings and 6-3. The Vikings improve to 9-13 (7-4 UMAC), while the Cougars drop to 5-17 (3-9 UMAC).

Minnesota Morris steps out-of-conference on Tuesday night with a trip to Saint John's University for a 6 p.m. first pitch.

Game One: Bethany Lutheran 9, Minnesota Morris 6 (11 innings)
After a furious start to the first game, things settled into pitcher's duel through the middle innings before the offenses ignited again in the ninth. When the dust settled, Bethany Lutheran scored three runs in the top of the 11th inning and Minnesota Morris was unable to respond one last time.

The Cougars took the lead in the bottom of the first with Julien Shadle knocking in Evan Benson. Later on, a wild pitch allowed Joe Pelle to race home to make it 2-0.

Control issues knocked Nathen Carlin out of the game in the second inning and Bethany Lutheran was able to take a 3-2 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Benson singled home Alex Baumann and Michael Nezerka to go back on top, 4-3. The Vikings fought back again with a RBI single to leave things all square at 4-4 after three.

With Joey Reinarts and Colin Lindgren limiting the chances for the Bethany Lutheran bats, that's where the game stood until the ninth inning. With two down for the Vikings, Hunter Pearce drove in two runs with a double to put BLC ahead, 6-4. The Cougars were then down to their final out in the ninth inning when Shadle drew a walk, Josh Doss singled, and Branden Carlson drove in Doss and pinch-runner Lucas Athey with a double to center to tie things up at 6-6.

Adam Fjerstad escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the 10th and that set the table for Bethany Lutheran in the top of the 11th. A lead-off walk, an error, and two doubles plated three runs for a 9-6 lead and the Cougars were unable to answer one last time.

Baumann, Graves, and Benson all had two hits apiece for Minnesota Morris in the game.

Game Two: Bethany Lutheran 6, Minnesota Morris 3
The Cougars built a 3-1 lead after six innings, but Bethany Lutheran stormed back with four runs in the ninth to get the sweep of the doubleheader.

A Benson RBI single put Minnesota Morris ahead in the bottom of the first before Bethany Lutheran tied it up in the second inning. Pelle then drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the third to make it 2-1 and a BLC error in the sixth allowed Carlson to reach and Shadle to score to double the margin to 3-1.

In the seventh, a wild pitch from Brian Vanyo brought home an unearned run to make it 3-2 before Doss got the Cougars out of the jam.

An untimely pair of errors in the ninth opened the floodgates as Bethany Lutheran scored four runs on only one hit. The first three runs scored on an error, a sac fly and a wild pitch before a Jake LaBerge two-out double increased the Viking lead to 6-3.

With the teams combining for only 10 hits in the second game, Baumann's 2-for-4 game was the only multi-hit performance of the evening session.