MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team fought Northland College and the wind on Saturday at Chizek Field to emerge with a doubleheader sweep of the LumberJacks by scores of 26-15 and 12-9. The two wins give the Cougars 10 wins in a row and improve them to 21-13 (12-7 UMAC) on the season. The 21 wins matches a school record that was previously reached in 1995 and 1996 for most wins in a single season.

Minnesota Morris has gone from 2-7 in the UMAC to 12-7 and now head into Sunday's doubleheader at the University of Wisconsin-Superior with a spot in the UMAC Tournament on the line. In order to reach the four-team tournament, the Cougars will need to win both games against the Yellowjackets. First pitch in Wisconsin is set for 3 p.m.

Game One: Minnesota Morris 26, Northland 15 (7 innings)
With the wind steadily blowing around 30 miles per hour out to right field, it was a day for hitters and not a day for pitchers. The Cougars proved that early by putting eight runs on the board in the bottom of the first and later added a 10-run third inning as they put the LumberJacks away in seven innings.

Nathen Carlin did well to keep Northland off the board in the top of the first inning and Tyler Scheler quickly made it 4-0 in the bottom of the inning with a wind-aided grand slam. Branden Carlson, Joe Pelle, and Alex Baumann all added RBIs later in the inning for an 8-0 edge after one.

It was going to be impossible to keep the Northland offense quiet all day and the LumberJacks responded with five in the top of the second. The Cougars plated two in the bottom of the inning with another Carlson RBI and a bases-loaded walk from Logan Graves.

After batting around in the first, Minnesota Morris did it again in the third. Evan Benson singled on a bunt back to the pitcher and had an error score two runs for a 12-7 lead. Later in the inning, he added a two-run home run as the Cougars increased their lead to an astounding 20-7.

An eight-run top of the fifth brought Northland to within six, 21-15, but Cougar pitching would shut the LumberJacks down the rest of the way. In the bottom of the inning, Benson and Noah Kloss had RBIs to push the Cougar lead back to 23-15. An inning later, Baumann doubled home Graves to make it 24-15 and Benson connected on his second home run of the game to give UMN Morris a 26-15 cushion. After a 1-2-3 inning from Northland in the seventh, the game ended via the run rule.

Brady Kenning (1-0) earned the win in relief. Baumann, Scheler, and Benson all collected four hits in the first game while Scheler and Benson each drove in five runs apiece.

Game Two: Minnesota Morris 12, Northland 9
Things didn't go as smoothly in game two for the Cougars, but they battled back from an 8-4 deficit to tie the game after four innings and then added some insurance later in the game to finish it off.

The first inning featured William Loesch keeping Northland off the scoreboard and the Cougars immediately jumping ahead. Graves reached via a bunt single and was driven in by a double from Baumann for a 1-0 lead. Scheler immediately followed that with a two-run shot to increase the advantage to 3-0.

Northland connected for six hits to score five runs in the top of the second and go on top, 5-3. Trailing for the first time all day, the Cougars brought it within one in the bottom of the second inning only to see the LumberJacks score three more runs in the top of the third with a blast from Garrett Warren for an 8-4 lead.

The comeback began in the bottom of the third with a RBI single from Keegan Jonas to bring Benson home, followed by a sac fly from Carlson that brought David Steffen in to score.

Colin Lindgren relieved Loesch entering the top of the fourth inning and worked the final 6.0 innings, shutting down the LumberJacks to the tune of five hits and one run while striking out 10. After Lindgren struck out the side in the top of the fourth, a Benson RBI single in the bottom of the inning brought two runs home to level the score at 8-8. Baumann then tripled with two down in the bottom of the fifth to give Minnesota Morris a 10-8 edge entering the sixth.

The lone run given up by Lindgren was a solo home run by Matt Simpson in the top of the sixth, bringing Northland within a run, 10-9. The Cougars were kept off the scoreboard for the first time all day in the bottom of the sixth and then were again in the seventh. Fortunately, Lindgren was mowing the LumberJacks down and keeping Minnesota Morris out in front. With two down in the bottom of the eighth, Steffen added an important insurance run with a deep double that scored Scheler for an 11-9 lead. Jonas was up next and singled down the line in left to drive in Steffen. 

In the ninth, Lindgren struck out the first two hitters of the inning and then induced a weak grounder to second to wrap things up as he improved to 4-0 on the season.

Graves, Baumann, and Jonas all had three hits in game two for UMN Morris. Baumann drove in three to lead the Cougars in that category.