ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team fought back to split with the University of Northwestern on Monday. The Eagles took the opening game of the day behind a no-hitter, winning 6-0. The Cougars were undaunted, rallying from a 3-1 deficit in the ninth inning of the day's second game to earn a 6-3 victory over the Eagles in 10 innings.

The results of the day put Minnesota Morris at 12-13 (3-7 UMAC) on the season. The Cougars are set to host their home opener on Wednesday afternoon against Crown College starting at 4:30 p.m.

Northwestern 6, Minnesota Morris 0
The first contest of the day was all about Bryce Crabb. The Northwestern starting pitcher struck out nine and walked no one as he dealt UNW's first no-hitter since 2008. Only a pair of errors from the Eagles prevented Crabb from throwing a perfect game.

As it turned out, Crabb also scored the game-winning run, scoring on an error from the Minnesota Morris defense in the bottom of the third. Northwestern tacked on two more runs in that inning to take a 3-0 lead.

In the fifth inning, Northwestern had a RBI single to increase its lead to 4-0. After that, each of the next two runs for the Eagles scored on wild pitches, one in the fifth and one in the seventh.

Cole Mammenga was the unfortunate pitcher going up against Crabb, taking the loss to fall to 2-3 on the season. Mammenga went 5.2 innings and gave up five runs (two earned). Owen Dylong threw the final 2.1 innings and allowed one earned run on two hits.

Minnesota Morris 6, Northwestern 3 (10 innings)
Northwestern led much of the way in the second game of the afternoon and even added what seemed like a clinching insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, but Minnesota Morris never quit, coming back to tie the game in the top of the ninth before plating three more runs in the 10th to stun the Eagles.

The scoring got started in the bottom of the first when Northwestern grabbed the lead on a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. Minnesota Morris answered back in the top of the second when Ty Beasley collected the first hit of the day for the Cougars. After Evan Benson was hit by a pitch, both runners stole a base to move into scoring position and Beasley was driven in by a RBI groundout from Dylong to level the score at 1-1.

The score remained tied until an RBI single moved the Eagles back in front in the bottom of the fourth and they maintained that 2-1 edge until the bottom of the eighth when Aaron Severson launched a solo home run to left to make it 3-1.

Sam Ludzack had allowed just five Cougar hits over the first eight innings, but Severson took over in the ninth looking for the save. Minnesota Morris had other ideas. Tyler Scheler worked an eight-pitch walk to lead off the inning and Beasley followed with another base on balls to put the tying run aboard. Both moved up on a wild pitch, then Scheler scored on another wild pitch to make it 3-2. With Beasley on third, Dylong singled through the middle of the infield to tie things up at 3-3 and send the game to extras after Colin Lindgren left the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth.

Nick Drinken took over the mound in the 10th inning for Northwestern and the Cougars jumped on him to the tune of four straight hits to start the inning, bringing three runs home. Joe Pelle led off with a double, followed by a single from Logan Graves, a RBI single from Alex Baumann, and then a double from Scheler that scored two. Lindgren closed it out with a business-like 10th inning of work, picking up the win to go to 2-0 on the season.

Graves, Baumann, and Dylong all had two hits in the game for Minnesota Morris. Joey Reinarts had a no-decision, throwing 7.0 innings and allowing two runs on six hits. Lindgren threw the final 3.0 innings and gave up one run on two hits.