MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team kept up its hot play as of late, recording its eighth straight victory with a 15-3 win over Northland College in seven innings on Friday at Chizek Field. The Cougars improve to 19-13 (10-7 UMAC).

Minnesota Morris scored in all but one of its six turns at the plate on Friday afternoon. Cole Mammenga got the start and went the distance, improving to 3-3 on the season. He started out with a 1-2-3 top of the first inning and the Cougars followed by doing what they do best, getting on base and causing mayhem for opposing catchers and defense. Joe Pelle led off with a walk and stole second and third on the first two pitches to Logan Graves. Graves eventually singled back up the middle to plate Pelle and promptly stole second and reached third on an error from the Northland catcher. Alex Baumann doubled Graves in for a 2-0 lead and Ty Beasley added a sacrifice fly to give UMN Morris a 3-0 advantage after one.

Branden Carlson added onto the lead with a solo home run in the second inning to increase it to 4-0 in favor of Minnesota Morris. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the third, Evan Benson was hit by a pitch to bring Baumann in for a 5-0 edge.

A two-run home run by Zach Ross in the top of the fourth made things closer for a bit, but Minnesota Morris busted the game open by scoring six times with two outs in the bottom of the frame. The rally started with a wild pitch from Northland starter Seth Hackbarth that allowed Keegan Jonas to sprint home. Tyler Scheler then found a hole in shallow center for a RBI single that drove in a pair to make it 8-2. Benson later drove in Scheler with a RBI single and David Steffen ended things with a double to left field that cleared the bases, driving in Benson and Beasley.

Though Northland scored once in the fifth inning, the Cougars were still in command and took a double-digit lead by scoring four more times in the bottom of the sixth. Steffen had a sac fly to plate Baumann for a 12-3 advantage. With two down, another wild pitch from the LumberJacks brought a run home for a 13-3 lead. Noah Kloss and Graves each then drove in a run by showing discipline and drawing a pair of walks to make it 15-3. Mammenga closed it out with ease in the top of the seventh to wrap things up.

With Northland issuing nine walks and hitting six Cougar batters, Minnesota Morris actually had just nine hits on the day as a team. Baumann and Carlson were the two batters who had two hits apiece.

Minnesota Morris closes out its home schedule tomorrow with a doubleheader against the LumberJacks starting at 2 p.m. A ceremony for the Cougar seniors will be held in between the two contests.