THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team ended its trip to California with a 2-2 record after a 13-8 win over Macalester College on Sunday. The Cougars and Scots were on a time limit due to travel, so the seventh inning served as the end point of the contest since both teams were not able to bat in the eighth.

Minnesota Morris jumped in front in the top of the second when Ashton Pauly was plunked to lead off the inning. He moved up a station on a walk to Keegan Jonas and was sacrificed to third before racing home on a wild pitch for a 1-0 lead. 

A Ben Meuser walk in the third inning set up Ethan Schmitz for a RBI triple to make it 2-0. Pauly followed that with a sacrifice fly that plated Schmitz from third for a 3-0 lead.

Ryan McGie (1-0) went 5.0 innings on the day and didn't have much trouble until the bottom of the third when Macalester had a pair of two-out hits to score two and cut the Cougar lead down to a single run at 3-2.

The offense immediately picked McGie up in the top of the fourth, banging out five hits, walking four times, and taking advantage of a pair of Macalester errors to score 10 runs and go on top, 13-2. David Steffen, Meuser, and Pauly all had hits that drove in a pair of runs before the Macalester reliever was lifted. With a new pitcher in for the Scots, Minnesota Morris loaded the bases and had one run score on an error before Steffen cleared the bases with a triple.

The Scots were able to make a game of it, connecting on a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth. Owen Dylong took over in the sixth inning and gave up a run before sitting three straight Scot batters down to get out of the jam. What would turn out to be the final inning ended with Jacob Tobritzhofer and Ethan Schmitz combining to limit Macalester to one run, leaving it at 13-8.

Steffen, Meuser, and Pauly all had two hits in the game for the Cougars. Steffen drove in five runs, while Pauly plated three.

Minnesota Morris will resume its season in Florida with 10 games between March 9 and 16. The first day of the trip sees the Cougars square off with Gwynedd Mercy University at 2:45 p.m. (3:45 p.m. EST) and Fitchburg State University at 6:15 p.m. (7:15 p.m. EST).