NEW ULM, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team split a UMAC doubleheader at Martin Luther College on Saturday afternoon. The Cougars raced to a 10-0 victory in seven innings in the first game of the day, but then had its offense sputter in game two as the Knights recorded a 2-0 victory. The split of the day's action leaves UMN Morris at 16-16 overall and 11-6 in the UMAC.

Due to conference games for Concordia College-Moorhead that need to be played on Monday, the scheduled non-conference matchup with Minnesota Morris has been canceled. The Cougars are next in action on Friday as they begin a three-game series with Northland College on May 5.

Game 1: Minnesota Morris 10, Martin Luther 0 (7 innings)
Timely hitting from Minnesota Morris and sloppy defense from Martin Luther made the first game of the day a quick one. Brian Vanyo (3-1) earned the win by throwing 5.0 innings and giving up just three hits while striking out four. Breckin Silvain threw the final 2.0 innings and allowed only two more hits to preserve the shutout.

The Cougars got on the board in the top of the second when Evan Benson reached on an error, allowing Keegan Jonas to score. Alex Baumann followed with a RBI double that drove in Zach Froman for a 2-0 lead. 

Singles from four of the first five hitters in the top of the fourth inning led to a RBI from Baumann and a run from Jonas before another Martin Luther error made it 4-0. RBIs followed from Tyler Scheler on a fielder's choice and Ethan Schmitz on a RBI single, increasing the Cougar advantage to 6-0.

Baumann scored again in the sixth after reaching on a Martin Luther error and coming in on a Scheler RBI single. The Cougars then reached the 10-run margin needed to end the game early in the top of the seventh. Froman had a RBI single to plate Ty Beasley. Later on, a double-steal brought Froman in from third and a Martin Luther error plated another as the Cougars went up, 10-0. Silvain had no trouble slamming the door in the bottom of the seventh to finish it up.

Baumann went 3-for-4 in the game with two RBIs and two runs. Froman and Benson each added two hits.

Game 2: Martin Luther 2, Minnesota Morris 0
The second game went much differently for both sides as Martin Luther cleaned up its act on defense and Minnesota Morris couldn't string much together against MLC starting pitcher Matt Rieger. Rieger went the whole way and gave up only five hits, growing more effective as the game moved along.

For the Cougars, Joey Reinarts went 6.0 innings and allowed only three hits, but Martin Luther got to him for single runs in the first and third innings and that held up the whole way as Reinarts dropped to 4-4 on the season.

Minnesota Morris loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the first before Rieger worked his way out of trouble. Starting in the fifth inning, Rieger retired 11 straight batters before Scheler reached on Martin Luther's one and only error of the second game. After retiring the side in the eighth, Rieger once again sat the Cougars down in order in the ninth to finish the game.

Baumann was the lone Minnesota Morris hitter with two hits in the contest. Ryan Wilhelm came on in relief and had a pair of scoreless innings.