MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team started off a hectic week of action on Tuesday with a sweep of North Central University, defeating the Rams by scores of 9-1 and 17-14 at Chizek Field. With the two victories, Minnesota Morris improves to 15-13 (6-7 UMAC).

The Cougars are back home on Thursday, welcoming back Martin Luther College. The teams will begin the day at 11 a.m. with the Knights leading 3-1 going into the bottom of the second inning. A doubleheader will follow with games at approximately 1:30 and 4:30 p.m.

Minnesota Morris 9, North Central 1
Jacob Schaaf went 8.0 innings and struck out 11 North Central hitters to improve to 4-0 on the season in the first game of the day. After the Rams scored their only run of the game in the top of the second, Minnesota Morris scored eight unanswered to pull away.

It was a huge offensive day for Ty Beasley and the freshman started it off in the top of the first inning with a RBI single to score Alex Baumann. North Central tied the score in the top of the second with a solo home run from Matthew Oakley that just cleared the wall in left to make it 1-1.

Minnesota Morris answered back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second to lead for good. Joe Pelle singled in David Steffen and Logan Graves followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Brady Kenning.

In the fifth inning, Tyler Scheler collected an RBI single to drive in Baumann again. Steffen then doubled in both Evan Benson and Scheler to increase the margin to 6-1. 

Minnesota Morris put the game away with single runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. A second sac fly for Graves in the sixth scored Pelle. Beasley bashed his first home run of the season in the seventh. Baumann added yet another sac fly in the eighth to drive Pelle in again for a 9-1 advantage.

Steffen ended the game 3-for-3 while Beasley was 3-for-5. Schaaf gave up only four hits to North Central in the game and William Loesch worked the ninth inning to wrap things up in relief.

Minnesota Morris 17, North Central 14
A 10-1 Minnesota Morris lead dissolved in a few rough middle innings, but the Cougars were able to answer the bell and scored the final four runs of the day to get the come-from-behind win.

North Central was throwing the ball all over the park in the early going and Minnesota Morris jumped out to a 5-0 lead at the end of one thanks to three hits and three Ram errors. An RBI single that scored two off the bat of Beasley made it 7-0 in the second inning and the Cougars responded to a North Central run in the top of the third inning by plating two in the bottom of the third and one more in the fourth for a 10-1 cushion.

Joey Reinarts seemed well in control for the first four innings but he ran into trouble in the fifth and was pulled with one out in the inning. North Central would eventually score four times in the frame. Minnesota Morris was quick to grow the lead with three consecutive RBI doubles from Baumann, Scheler, and Beasley in the bottom of the fifth to keep the lead at eight, 13-5.

Things got worse for the Cougars in the sixth when North Central scored five more times, including a second home run of the day off the bat of Oakley to make it 13-10. Following a scoreless bottom of the inning from UMN Morris (the only inning they wouldn't score), the Rams tacked on another four runs in the top of the seventh to taking a stunning 14-13 lead.

To the Cougars' credit, they shrugged off the deficit and kept things rolling on offense. Following back-to-back walks of Baumann and Scheler to start the bottom of the seventh, Baumann tied the game by racing home while Scheler was caught in a rundown. Later in the inning, Steffen hit his first collegiate home run to put Minnesota Morris ahead, 16-14. Following a 1-2-3 inning from Colin Lindgren, Beasley drove in an insurance run with a sac fly to make it 17-14. 

In North Central's final turn at the plate, the Rams had a lead-off triple wasted as Lindgren struck out the next two hitters before a flyout to left to wrap things up.

Lindgren (3-0) threw the final 3.0 innings and struck out five. Beasley was 5-for-5 in the game with five RBIs. Baumann and Branden Carlson each had three hits apiece. After tying the single-season record for stolen bases in game one of the doubleheader, Pelle broke the record in game two and now has 21 on the season.