AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team came up empty in two games against John Carroll University on Friday, dropping 3-1 and 6-3 decisions to the Blue Streaks.

The Cougars will play their first 9-inning game of the season tomorrow morning, meeting Concordia University-Chicago in Davenport, Fla. for a 9:30 a.m. (EST) first pitch.

Game 1: John Carroll 3, Minnesota Morris 1
An afternoon pitcher's duel went to John Carroll to start off the doubleheader. The two teams combined for nine hits over the seven innings of action, but it was a pair of errors from the Minnesota Morris defense in the fifth inning that proved decisive.

The Blue Streaks took the lead in the bottom of the first without registering a hit against Josh Osten. Osten hit lead-off hitter Sean Connolly with a pitch and Connolly then proceeded to steal second before moving to third and then home on groundouts.

Osten settled in from there and struck out the side in the second inning. Minnesota Morris knotted the score at 1-1 in the top of the fourth with a one-out single from Ethan Schmitz and a two-out double from Ben Meuser.

A pair of errors in the bottom of the fifth put two runners in scoring position for John Carroll and Erik Daugenti drove them in with a single back up the middle to end Osten's day and give the Blue Streaks the 3-1 lead. Though Breckin Silvain came in and stopped any further damage, the final six Cougar batters were retired in order in the sixth and seventh to give John Carroll the win.

The Cougars had a 5-4 edge in total hits in the game. Joining Schmitz and Meuser with hits for UMN Morris were David Steffen, Ashton Pauly, and Brady Kenning. Osten punched out five in 4.1 innings of work, while Silvain threw the final 1.2 innings and had a strikeout.

Game 2: John Carroll 6, Minnesota Morris 3
Minnesota Morris maintained a lead after the first and second innings, but John Carroll came from behind to win the second game of the day.

Steffen led off the bottom of the first with a single, moved to second on a balk and then was sacrificed by Schmitz to get to third. From there, a wild pitch brought him home for a 1-0 Cougar lead. 

Following a pair of runs from John Carroll in the top of the second, Minnesota Morris responded with two of its own in the bottom half. Consecutive hit by pitches from Keegan Jonas and Meuser put two aboard. A Zach Froman groundout then moved each runner into scoring position. Evan Benson singled home Jonas to tie it up at 2-2 and Steffen doubled in Meuser to give the Cougars a 3-2 lead.

The game swung on a two-out rally from John Carroll in the top of the fourth. Logan LaMere kept the inning going with a triple and that was followed by a two-run blast from Connor Mayle that gave the Blue Streaks a 4-3 lead. Later in the inning, Connolly tripled in another run to increase the JCU lead to 5-3.

John Carroll tacked on another run in the top of the fifth. The best shot Minnesota Morris had of getting back in it came in the bottom of the fifth when a JCU error opened the door for the Cougars to load the bases with one away before consecutive strikeouts ended the inning.

Parker Gilchrist struck out four in 4.0 innings of work, but took the loss to fall to 0-1. Kenning was perfect in 1.1 innings of relief, while Alex Baumann struck out the side in the seventh. Both Steffen and Tyler Scheler had two hits apiece.