MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team closed its three-day, six-game weekend trip to U.S. Bank Stadium on a high note, sweeping a doubleheader from Augsburg University by scores of 5-4 and 10-6. The wins improve the Cougars to 9-6 overall on the season.

Minnesota Morris opens up UMAC play on Tuesday, however there has been a change to the schedule. Instead of playing the contest with Crown College in Morris at Chizek Field, the teams will meet at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter at 12 p.m. and count as a home game for Crown. The Cougars will then host the Storm on April 13 to make up for the lost home contest.

Game One: Minnesota Morris 5, Augsburg 4
Minnesota Morris came from behind on three occasions to squeak past Augsburg, 5-4, in the first game of the day on Sunday. The Auggies took the lead in the bottom of the third, fourth, and fifth innings, but the Cougars never quit and scored the tying and go-ahead runs in the top of the seventh.

Jake Skogrand started the trouble for Minnesota Morris with a lead-off double in the bottom of the third, moving to third on a sac bunt and then scoring on a RBI groundout from Connor Stoik. 

The first Cougar rally came in the top of the fourth. Logan Graves and Alex Baumann led off the innings with base hits before Tyler Scheler drove them both home for a 2-1 lead. The Auggies were quick to answer in the bottom of the fourth, tying the score on back-to-back doubles and later taking the lead on a wild pitch to leave the score at 3-2 heading into the fifth.

Evan Benson led off the top of the fifth with a double before moving to third on a sacrifice from Michael Nezerka. With one away, David Steffen doubled down the line in left to score Benson to make it 3-3.

Colin Lindgren relieved Brian Vanyo heading to the bottom of the fifth, but gave up a solo home run to Michael Weiss on his first batter, putting Augsburg back in front, 4-3. He settled in from there, retiring the side in the fifth and inducing an inning-ending double play in the sixth. 

In the top of the seventh, Minnesota Morris was down to its final two outs when Steffen and Joe Pelle both singled to put two aboard. With two outs, Augsburg made a pitching change to try to get Baumann out to end the game, but the Cougar shortstop struck with a ringing double into left to bring both runs home for a 5-4 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh, Augsburg would put runners on the corners with one out, but Lindgren got an infield fly for the second out before striking out Steven Salz looking to end the game.

Lindgren got the win to move to 1-0 on the season. Baumann was 3-for-4 in the game with two RBIs, while Steffen was 2-for-3 at the plate.

Game Two: Minnesota Morris 10, Augsburg 6
A late offensive onslaught from Minnesota Morris broke open a tie game and enabled the Cougars to come away with the sweep over the Auggies. Tied at 3-3 going to the bottom of the fourth, UMN Morris plated four runs in the fourth and three more in the sixth to take control.

The scoring opened for Minnesota Morris in the bottom of the first with a RBI single from Baumann to score Pelle from second. Augsburg came back to tie the score in the top of the second, but it was again Baumann putting the Cougars ahead in the bottom of the third with a double that brought Pelle and Steffen in to score, making it 3-1.

Augsburg wasn't done yet, scoring two runs and chasing Cougar starting pitcher Joey Reinarts in the top of the fourth with the score tied at 3-3. Ethan Schmitz came on in relief and worked out of the jam, leaving two Auggie runners stranded in scoring position.

With the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the fourth, Pelle hit a go-ahead single to end the day of Augsburg reliever Matt Moe. Graves continued the run of hot bats for the Cougars against Myer Schmitz with a single back up the middle that scored Keegan Jonas and Steffen for a 6-3 edge before a wild pitch brought Pelle home for a 7-3 lead.

Augsburg got one run back in the top of the fifth, but Minnesota Morris took command with three more runs in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs and the bases loaded, Ty Beasley singled home two runs to make it 9-4. Branden Carlson then struck out swinging, but the ball bounced away from the catcher and Carlson alertly raced down the line to keep the inning going while Scheler scored on the play. The Auggies were able to bring a couple runs around to score in the seventh, but it wasn't enough and the game ended with a play at the plate where Jack Baumgart was caught stealing.

Ethan Schmitz got the win to go to 1-0 on the season. Schmitz threw 1.2 innings, giving up one run (unearned) and notching a strikeout. Baumann and Steffen once again had multi-hit games, but it was Pelle's 4-for-4 performance from the leadoff spot in the lineup that sparked the Cougar offense as he scored three runs in the game.