ASHLAND, Wis. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team closed out UMAC play on Saturday with a sweep of Northland College. The Cougars collected 10-7 and 10-1 wins over the LumberJacks to improve to 19-17 (14-7 UMAC). Though UMN Morris did its part on the day, a Crown College win over the University of Wisconsin-Superior kept the Polars as the No. 3 seed in the UMAC Tournament even though Crown and Minnesota Morris finished with identical conference records.

Minnesota Morris will carry the No. 4 seed into the UMAC Tournament, which begins on Thursday in Mankato. The Cougars will match up with No. 1 seed Bethany Lutheran College on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the double elimination tournament. 

Game 1: Minnesota Morris 10, Northland 7
Tied at 3-3 entering the sixth innings, Minnesota Morris quickly went up by seven runs and then held on down the stretch to nab the opener on Saturday.

Ben Meuser opened the scoring in the top of the second, reaching on a double and scoring on a sacrifice fly from Ty Beasley to take a 1-0 lead. The Cougars added two more in the third inning with a RBI double from Tyler Scheler and a sacrifice fly from Ethan Schmitz to build a 3-0 lead.

Northland came back with three runs in the bottom of the third to tie it up, including a two-run homer from Zach Ross. Josh Osten was able to retire the side and then mow down the LumberJack lineup in order in both the fourth and fifth innings, keeping the score 3-3.

In the top of the sixth, Schmitz led off with a single but moved to third on an error before coming home on a sacrifice fly from Meuser to reclaim a 4-3 lead for Minnesota Morris. In the seventh inning, the Cougars had three hits and capitalized on three Northland errors to plate five runs and take a commanding 9-3 advantage. Evan Benson and Meuser both drove in two, while Logan Straumann added another RBI with a sacrifice fly. Meuser added another RBI in the top of the eighth to make it 10-3. 

Northland came back with four runs in the bottom of the eighth to make things interesting in the late stages, but Alex Baumann slammed the door shut with a 1-2-3 ninth for his fourth save of the season.

Osten went 5.0 innings with three strikeouts and moved to 3-3 on the season with the win. Benson and Meuser each had three-hit games for the Cougars, with Meuser driving in four in the contest.

Game 2: Minnesota Morris 10, Northland 1
The Minnesota Morris offense scored in seven of the nine innings and Joey Reinarts (5-4) and the bullpen combined to limit Northland to just five hits to close out the three-game sweep. 

After Baumann was hit by a pitch to start the game and then stole second, a Schmitz single drove in the senior to make it 1-0 after one. In the second, Meuser had a walk to start the inning, leading to three straight singles and a 2-0 lead on a Zach Froman RBI. Ashton Pauly then drew a walk to force a run home and make it 3-0. Benson tacked on another run in the inning with a sac fly. The third inning saw Keegan Jonas draw a walk and take second on a passed ball before Beasley drove him in with a single for a 5-0 edge.

Reinarts retired the first nine hitters he faced in the game. Even after Northland led off the fourth with a single, the base runner was immediately retired on a double play and Reinarts cruised through the sixth facing the minimum number of 18 batters along the way.

The Cougars scored another run in the fifth and two more in the sixth, and one more in the seventh as the lead ballooned to 9-0. The lone LumberJack run of the game came in the bottom of the seventh, but Minnesota Morris got it right back with an Aidan Moran RBI single in the eighth.

Nolan Satre threw one inning of relief for Minnesota Morris and Ryan Wilhelm finished it off with two innings of scoreless relief. Beasley and Froman had two hits apiece for the Cougar offense.