MANKATO, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team scored five runs in the ninth inning of its first game against Bethany Lutheran College on Monday, eventually coming away with an 11-10 win in 12 innings to manage a split with the Vikings in a doubleheader. BLC came back later in the evening for a 9-3 victory, leaving the Cougars at 6-12 (1-2 UMAC) on the year.

With the final game of the three-game series postponed due to weather tomorrow, the Cougars are next scheduled to be in action on Friday with a 3 p.m. game in Minneapolis at North Central University.

Game 1: Minnesota Morris 11, Bethany Lutheran 10 (12 innings)
A game that went back and forth all afternoon looked to be tilting Bethany Lutheran's way when the Vikings hit a grand slam in the eighth inning, but Minnesota Morris showed its resolve and scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings before winning it in the bottom of the 12th with a walk-off single from Tyler Scheler.

Before the offensive fireworks started late in the contest, Bethany Lutheran took the lead with an unearned run in the top of the first. The Vikings maintained that 1-0 edge until the bottom of the third when Ben Leal singled in Keegan Jonas to knot the score up at 1-1.

BLC came back with single runs in the top of the fourth and the top of the fifth, but Ben Meuser had a response with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth to draw Minnesota Morris back within a run.

Two more runs for Bethany Lutheran in the top of the sixth made it a 5-2 ballgame, but the Cougars again had an answer. Jonas drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the sixth to force home Ethan Schmitz from third. In the next inning, Schmitz connected on a two-run homer, driving in David Steffen to level the game at 5-5.

A two-out rally in the top of the eighth for the Vikings ended with a grand slam off the bat of Ben Hopper to make it 9-5. Bethany Lutheran tacked on another run in the top of the ninth on an error from the Cougars to seemingly finish things off.

Minnesota Morris had other plans. Evan Benson led off the bottom of the ninth with a single and the Cougars were then the recipient of a Bethany Lutheran error to put runners on the corners. Steffen singled in the first run to close the gap to 10-6. Alex Baumann followed with a single that loaded the bases before Schmitz cleared them with a double, making the score 10-9 with still no outs in the inning. After Schmitz went to third on a wild pitch, Ty Beasley roped a single to left to even the score at 10-10 and move the game into extra innings.

Joey Reinarts (2-2) held the Bethany Lutheran bats in check for 3.0 innings and only ran into trouble in the 12th with a couple walks before working out of the jam. Minnesota Morris left the winning run in scoring position in both the 10th and 11th innings, but wrapped things up in the 12th with a single from Scheler to drive home Steffen for the game-winning run.

Beasley finished with a 3-for-6 game, while Schmitz and Meuser each added two hits apiece. Reinarts struck out two and gave up just one hit in his relief appearance. Brian Vanyo struck out five in 4.2 innings while Elias Harrington worked a scoreless inning of relief.

Game 2: Bethany Lutheran 9, Minnesota Morris 3
Bethany Lutheran avoided the sweep by opening up a big lead thanks to a five-run fifth inning in game two and Minnesota Morris was unable to recover. 

The Vikings took the lead in the top of the third on a passed ball and a sacrifice fly. A pair of RBI singles in the top of the fifth increased their advantage to 5-0 before a two-run home run from Henry Laue made it 7-0.

Minnesota Morris cut into the deficit with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Singles from Alex Goedhard, Leal, and Steffen loaded the bases and Baumann doubled in two runs before a sacrifice fly from Schmitz brought the third runner in.

That 7-3 margin would be as close as the Cougars would come the rest of the way. Bethany Lutheran stranded two Minnesota Morris baserunners in each of the final four innings to maintain its lead and then build on it with single runs in the eighth and ninth to close out the victory.

Parker Gilchrist (0-3) went 3.0 innings in defeat for UMN Morris, giving up two runs (both unearned). Breckin Silvain threw 3.0 innings of relief and allowed just a single run (also unearned). Baumann, Scheler, and Leal all had two-hit games for the Cougar offense.