MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team finally got to come home to Chizek Field on Thursday for the team's only true home game this season, but a 10-run sixth inning from Bethany Lutheran College ruined the Senior Day celebration as the Vikings recorded a 16-6 victory. With the loss, Minnesota Morris goes to 16-17 (11-7 UMAC).
Bethany Lutheran used three base hits in the opening inning against starting pitcher
Elias Harrington to take a 1-0 lead, but the freshman settled in and kept the Vikings off the board for the next few innings. In the meantime, an
Alex Baumann blast over the wall in left tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the third.Â
Double plays initiated by
Ashton Pauly in both the fourth and fifth innings kept Bethany Lutheran at bay and Pauly then delivered an infield single in the bottom of the fifth that allowed
Ty Beasley to race home from third to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead.
The game turned on its head in the top of the sixth. After a running catch in foul territory by Beasley for the first out of the frame, Bethany Lutheran had 12 straight hitters reach base via a hit, walk, hit batter, or error. By the time the dust settled, the Vikings had pushed 10 runs across to take an 11-2 lead.Â
Minnesota Morris showed some fight, pulling one run closer in the bottom of the inning on a RBI single from
Zach Froman. After a scoreless inning from
Max Binnicker in the seventh, the Cougars scored two more with a RBI single from
Ben Meuser that brought in Pauly and
Tyler Scheler to make it an 11-5 game.Â
Any further hopes of a UMN Morris comeback were dashed when Bethany Lutheran scored two unearned runs in the eighth. Three more came home in the ninth to push the Viking lead to 16-5.
Aidan Moran collected a RBI on a groundout in the bottom of the ninth for the Cougars.
Harrington (1-3) pitched well for five innings before running into trouble in the sixth, taking the loss for the Cougars on the afternoon.
Ethan Schmitz went 3-for-4 at the plate and Meuser added two hits and two RBIs.
UMAC play continues this weekend as Minnesota Morris begins a three-game series in Ashland, Wis. with Northland College. The first game of the set is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start on Friday afternoon.
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