MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team split a doubleheader with Hamline University on Saturday morning at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Cougars nabbed the opener from the Pipers, 2-1, before Hamline came back to secure a 5-0 shutout in the second game. Now 7-6 on the season, Minnesota Morris has already matched last year's win total before the start of UMAC play.

The Cougars conclude their weekend slate of games at U.S. Bank Stadium with a doubleheader on Sunday against Augsburg University starting at 3:30 p.m.

Game One: Minnesota Morris 2, Hamline 1
Cole Mammenga pitched six strong innings and Colin Lindgren had a perfect inning of relief to pick up the save as Minnesota Morris started the morning off with a victory.

The lone Hamline run of the game came in the top of the first inning. A two-out rally from the Pipers saw them collect three straight hits to take a 1-0 lead.

Hamline would only manage two more hits the rest of the way, but Minnesota Morris wasn't having much success against Piper starting pitcher Conor Mestemacher either. The Cougars had only three hits in the first five innings and left the tying run stranded at third in the bottom of the fifth after Logan Graves reached on a fielder's choice and then stole two bases.

Mammenga worked out of trouble in the top of the sixth to keep it a one-run game and the Cougar offense finally clicked as Hamline reliever Braden Schneider gave up the lead. Alex Baumann was hit by a pitch to start the inning and Ty Beasley kept things moving with a one-out single. From there, a double off the bat of Evan Benson brought Baumann home and put Beasley on third. Pinch-hitter Noah Kloss grounded out, but it did enough to bring Beasley home for a 2-1 edge going to the final inning.

Relieving Mammenga in a save situation, Lindgren induced a pair of popups to Baumann at shortstop before a groundout to Baumann ended the game.

Mammenga moves to 2-1 on the season with the victory as he allowed only five hits and struck out three. Joe Pelle, Ben Meuser, and Branden Carlson also had hits in the game for the Cougars.

Game Two: Hamline 5, Minnesota Morris 0
In the second game of the day, Hamline was able to build an early lead and then hang on. Ryan Conn went 5.1 innings and gave up only five hits to the Cougars before Jonah Smallfield worked 1.2 innings of perfect relief to lock up the win for the Pipers.

Hamline took the lead on its second batter of the game. Cullen Buck led off with a single in the bottom of the first, then stole second before Max Gerstner doubled him home. Gerstner would later score on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

Single runs in the second and the third innings made it 4-0. Meanwhile, the Cougar offense was derailed by a pair of double plays in the second and fourth to help keep them off the board. The Pipers tacked on one more run in the fifth inning before Smallfield came on late to help close it out.

Tyler Carper (1-2) took the loss for the Cougars, while William Loesch threw the final 3.0 innings. Beasley was the lone UMN Morris hitter with multiple hits in the game, going 2-for-3.