ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team returned to the field after more than a week-long layoff, playing two games against two opponents at the University of Northwestern's Reynolds Field. The Cougars took the opener from North Central University, 17-6 in eight innings, before falling to Northwestern by a score of 6-1.

Now 11-12 (2-6 UMAC) on the season, Minnesota Morris will wrap up a three-game series with Northwestern with a doubleheader tomorrow in St. Paul beginning at 1 p.m.

Minnesota Morris 17, North Central 6 (8 innings)
Down 2-0 after four innings, the Minnesota Morris offense exploded in the middle and late innings to claim an important conference victory over the Rams. Tyler Carper pitched the first four innings for the Cougars, while Ryan Wilhelm took over from there and picked up the win to go to 1-0 on the year.

The Cougars had runners in scoring position early in the game but were unable to cash them in. North Central then took a 2-0 lead with a two-out double in the bottom of the third to grab hold of a lead it would maintain until the fifth inning.

Ty Beasley and Evan Benson each collected hits to start the fifth inning before Ethan Schmitz walked to load the bases. With one away in the inning, a wild pitch brought Beasley home to make it 2-1 and Brendan Carlson followed that with a deep fly to center that scored Benson, knotting the game up at 2-2.

Minnesota Morris took command of the game in the top of the sixth inning. Logan Graves led off with a walk, followed by a double from Alex Baumann. Beasley knocked in the go-ahead run with a single and Benson drove in Baumann for a 4-2 edge. With two in scoring position, Schmitz brought them both home for a 6-2 Cougar lead. With two down, a Joe Pelle single and an error in the outfield allowed two more to come in for an 8-2 advantage.

Some wildness from Wilhelm in the sixth got North Central back into it as a walk, single, and a hit batter loaded the bases. A walk and another hit batter drove in two before back-to-back singles left the score at 8-6. The Cougars escaped the jam with a strikeout and a lineout to third to end the inning.

That was as close as it would get for North Central the rest of the way. Minnesota Morris had RBI singles from Benson and Schmitz with two outs in the top of the seventh to take a 10-6 lead. 

Following a quick inning of work from Wilhelm in the bottom of the seventh, the Cougars went off for seven runs in the top of the eighth to put the victory within reach. RBIs in the inning came off the bats of Tyler Scheler, Beasley, Schmitz, Owen Dylong, and from a base on balls drawn by Graves. Needing three more outs to wrap the game up early, Wilhelm again buzzed through the North Central order to close things out.

Benson went 4-for-4 in the game with three runs scored, while Beasley was 4-for-5 with three runs scored. Schmitz added three hits and a team-high four RBIs, while Baumann also collected two hits. Carper and Wilhelm combined for 10 strikeouts in the game.

Northwestern 6, Minnesota Morris 1
Minnesota Morris couldn't get much going against Northwestern ace Owen Boerema and a fast start from the Eagle offense put the Cougars in a hole they couldn't get out of.

Starting pitcher David Steffen was greeted by some eager Northwestern hitters to start the game off. The Eagles belted out five hits and drew a walk in the opening inning to establish a 5-0 lead. An error from the Cougars with two outs in the second inning brought another run home for Northwestern, making it 6-0 through two.

To the credit of the UMN Morris pitching staff, the Northwestern lead wouldn't grow any further the rest of the way. Steffen worked around a walk in the third inning and Brian Vanyo limited the Eagles to only two hits over the next five innings. The trouble for the Cougars was that the going wasn't easy against Boerema. Northwestern's starting pitcher retired the first 10 batters before Graves singled to left in the top of the fourth. A wild pitch would get him to second and Scheler singled him home to make it 6-1.

That would do it in the scoring column the rest of the way. Boerema struck out 12 Cougar hitters in 8.0 innings of work to pick up the win. Graves would end the afternoon with three of the five Minnesota Morris hits.