MANKATO, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team hung on in the second game of the day and picked up their first UMAC victory of the season against Bethany Lutheran College. The Vikings started the day off with an 11-9 win before the Cougars finished things off with a 10-9 victory. The split of the day leaves UMN Morris at 10-8 overall on the season with a 1-2 record in UMAC play. The Vikings are 6-8 overall and 2-1 in the conference.

The three-game set concludes tomorrow in Mankato with a single game getting underway at 1 p.m.

Game One: Bethany Lutheran 11, Minnesota Morris 9
A narrow lead for Minnesota Morris through four innings vanished in the bottom of the fifth and the Cougars couldn't make up the large deficit late in the contest. 

The game opened with two runs in the first inning for both sides. Minnesota Morris started it off with a RBI single from Ty Beasley that plated Logan Graves before David Steffen brought Tyler Scheler home with a fielder's choice. Bethany Lutheran answered the early challenge from the Cougars by hitting a pair of RBI doubles in the bottom of the first, then adding on single runs in the bottom of the second and third for a 4-2 edge.

Minnesota Morris took the lead back in the top of the fourth inning. A double from Joe Pelle brought Ethan Schmitz and Keegan Jonas home to score, tying the game up at 4-4. Later in the inning, Scheler hit a sacrifice fly that did enough to bring Pelle home, making it 5-4 in favor of the Cougars.

It had been a rough start for both starting pitchers in the game, but Minnesota Morris went to the bullpen to start off the fifth inning in relief of Cole Mammenga and Bethany Lutheran pounced for seven runs on eight hits in the frame to take an 11-5 lead. Josh Osten closed out the fifth inning and was able to somewhat limit the damage, but the Cougars had a lot of ground to make up.

They were nearly able to pull it off. Minnesota Morris pulled one run back in the top of the sixth on a RBI single from Graves that brought Pelle home to make it 11-6. Osten then went to work, not allowing another run for the Vikings in the bottom half of the sixth, seventh or eighth innings.

In the ninth, Minnesota Morris started things off with a walk to Beasley and a single by Steffen before a Bethany Lutheran error allowed a run in for an 11-7 score. Branden Carlson followed a pitching change by the Vikings with a RBI fielder's choice groundout to make it 11-8. Two consecutive error from Bethany Lutheran followed that, making it 11-9 with the bases loaded and only one away. The Vikings finally put things to rest with a force out at home plate for the second out and a strikeout to finish things off.

Brian Vanyo took the loss for the Cougars to go to 2-2 on the season. Osten went 4.0 innings and gave up only two hits while striking out four. Evan Benson was 3-for-5 in the game for Minnesota Morris, while Pelle, Graves, Beasley, Steffen, and Jonas all collected two hits.

Game Two: Minnesota Morris 10, Bethany Lutheran 9
The second game provided a role reversal as this time around it was Minnesota Morris who fell behind, then came back to lead and had to hold on late in the contest.

For the second game running, Minnesota Morris opened with two runs in the top of the first. The first run came with Graves trapped in a pickle, however, Pelle was able to run home during the rundown to make it 1-0. Following a single from Beasley, Steffen tripled him home for a two-run advantage.

Bethany Lutheran again responded quickly to falling behind, putting four runs on the board in the bottom of the first and one more in the second against UMN Morris starter Jacob Schaaf. 

Things turned for Minnesota Morris in the third inning. Beasley led off with a walk and a double from Steffen moved them into scoring position. Benson hit into a RBI groundout to make it 5-3 and moved Steffen over to third. From there, a balk brought him home for a 5-4 ballgame. After that, three consecutive walks loaded the bases before a wild pitch got away from the BLC catcher and Carlson sprinted in to tie things up. A Pelle sacrifice fly to score Michael Nezerka before the end of the inning gave Minnesota Morris a 6-5 advantage. 

Schaaf recovered from a couple tough innings to start the game off to keep Bethany Lutheran off the board in the bottom of the third. The Cougars scored two more runs in the fourth with Benson hitting a single into center field to score Steffen and Scheler. In the top of the fifth, Schmitz led off with a triple and an infield single from Pelle brought the freshman home to make it 9-5. A wild pitch later in the frame allowed Pelle to score, increasing the margin to 10-5.

Schaaf continued to work through some wildness in the bottom of the fifth, keeping the Vikings from scoring as he wrapped up his day while maintaining a 10-5 lead. William Loesch relieved Schaaf to start the sixth and Bethany Lutheran was able to score on a sacrifice fly to cut into the lead at 10-6.

Loesch kept the Vikings at bay in the seventh, but Bethany Lutheran scored against him in the eighth to slice it to 10-7. Tyler Carper came on in relief and gave up a RBI single that scored two, keeping the Cougars out in front by a single run, 10-9, before he struck out Garret Hoffman to end the threat.

The Minnesota Morris offense wasn't able to generate anything to help its pitching staff in the top of the ninth, but fortunately it didn't matter. Colin Lindgren came on and retired three straight BLC batters to end the game and pick up his third save of the season.

Pelle, Graves, and Steffen had two hits apiece in this one for the Cougars. Schaaf went 5.0 innings and struck out three, picking up the win to go to 2-0 on the season.