LAKELAND, Fla. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team split its doubleheader with Simpson College on Friday afternoon, falling by a 10-3 count in the opener before coming back for a 10-8 victory in the second game of the day with the Storm. The Cougars move to 5-8 overall on the season.

Minnesota Morris concludes its Spring Break trip to the RussMatt Invitational in Florida tomorrow morning, facing Illinois Wesleyan University at 8 a.m. (9 a.m. EDT) in Davenport.

Game 1: Simpson 10, Minnesota Morris 3
Ben Meuser and Ryan McGie connected on solo home runs in the first two innings, but the Minnesota Morris offense otherwise fell flat in the first game of the day with Simpson. 

With the score tied at 2-2 heading into the third inning, Simpson took the lead for good with a two-out RBI single from Drew Carlson that made it 4-2. The Storm added two more runs in the top of the fifth before pushing the game fully out of reach with a four-run seventh inning to build a 10-2 cushion.

In the team's final turn at the dish, Dane Mammenga led off the inning for the Cougars with a double before scoring on a RBI fielder's choice grounder from Ashton Pauly that made it 10-3 before Simpson closed things out in the bottom of the seventh.

Breckin Silvain threw 5.0 innings but took the loss to fall to 0-2 on the season. Meuser was the lone Cougar with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4.

Game 2: Minnesota Morris 10, Simpson 8
A pair of leads for Minnesota Morris disappeared in the first three innings before the Cougars made their third lead of the game stand up in the fourth inning.

The Cougars opened up a 5-0 lead in the top of the second on a Blake Imhoff sacrifice fly to bring Ethan Schmitz home and a James Nelson walk that forced in Alex Goedhard. With the bases still loaded, Meuser cleared them with a double before being tagged out trying to stretch his hit to a three-bagger.

Simpson stormed back to tie it in the bottom of the inning when Tyson McAlexander hit a grand slam, helping level the score at 5-5.

The third inning saw an Imhoff RBI single cancelled out by a solo home run from Nate Cagley, leaving it as a 6-6 ballgame.

Landen Meyerdirk delivered the big blow to Simpson's chances in the top of the fourth, plating Nelson and Meuser with a two-out homer over the wall in left to give Minnesota Morris a 9-6 edge. 

Parker Gilchrist sat Simpson down in order in the bottom of the inning and Owen Dylong left the bases loaded in the fifth. Minnesota Morris added onto its lead in the sixth when Schmitz worked a bases loaded walk to score Nelson.

Brady Kenning ran into a little trouble in the bottom of the sixth and Simpson was able to trim the deficit to two at 10-8, but he then struck out the first two hitters in the bottom of the seventh and ended the game with a groundout to shortstop following a bunt single that brought the tying run to the plate.

Gilchrist (1-0) threw 4.0 innings and struck out three while giving up only one earned run. Schmitz was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while both Meuser and Meyerdirk drove in three runs apiece.