MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team settled for a split of its two games with Martin Luther College on Saturday afternoon at Chizek Field. After taking a 9-4 decision in the opening contest of the day, the offense dried up in game two and Martin Luther used a pair of big innings to pull away for a 9-2 win. Minnesota Morris moves to 11-13 (6-3 UMAC) on the year.

The Cougars are back at Chizek Field on Monday, hosting Crown College for two games beginning at 2 p.m. This doubleheader is the first part of a three-game series with the Polars that was postponed last month due to weather and takes the place of the non-conference game Minnesota Morris originally had on the schedule at Bethel University.

Game 1: Minnesota Morris 9, Martin Luther 4
Josh Osten (3-2) pitched eight strong innings and Owen Dylong finished things off in the ninth as the day got off to a good start for the Cougars.

Following a 1-2-3 top of the first from Osten, the Minnesota Morris bats got to work right away in the bottom of the inning. Ashton Pauly led off with a single and with one down, Ben Meuser cranked a home run to left center for a 2-0 lead. Ryan McGie was up next and matched Meuser with a solo shot to the same area of the field to make it 3-0.

In the third inning, McGie launched his second solo home run of the day and increased the Cougar advantage to 4-0.

Martin Luther got on the board with a run in the fourth and then cut the Minnesota Morris lead down to two runs with another run in the fifth. In the bottom of that inning, the Cougars strung together three straight two-out hits from Ethan Schmitz, Ty Beasley, and finally a Keegan Jonas double that scored a run and put UMN Morris back up, 5-2. 

The bottom of the sixth is when Minnesota Morris firmly wrested control of the contest. Owen Dylong and Pauly started off the inning with singles before James Nelson laid down his second sacrifice of the game. With runners in scoring position, Meuser hit a double to right to bring both in for a 7-2 lead. Two batters later, Schmitz hit a home run to right center, making it a 9-2 ballgame. 

Single runs from the Knights in the seventh and eighth provided some window dressing, but Minnesota Morris was not really challenged from there on out. On in relief in the ninth, Dylong struck out a pair of Knights to finish things off.

Schmitz went 4-for-5 in the game, while Meuser was 3-for-5 with four RBIs. Pauly, McGie, Jonas, and Landen Meyerdirk all collected two hits apiece.

Game 2: Martin Luther 9, Minnesota Morris 2
Tied at 2-2 through five innings, Minnesota Morris just couldn't find the answer to Martin Luther pitcher Connor Heckendorf as the freshman pitcher for the Knights threw a complete game and got the win.

The Knights scored a run in both the first and second innings against Cougar starter Max Binnicker (0-1), going up, 2-0. Minnesota Morris came back to knot the score at 2-2 with a RBI double from Schmitz and RBI single from Jonas in the bottom of the fourth.

The game swung in favor of Martin Luther in the sixth inning when the Knights collected six hits and also capitalized on a Cougar error to score four runs, chase Binnicker from the game, and take a 6-2 lead. Minnesota Morris then stranded two runners in the seventh and three in the eighth as MLC maintained its four-run margin into the ninth.

Martin Luther put the game away with three runs scored in the top of the ninth with two outs as Minnesota Morris could not escape the inning unscathed. Down by seven, the Cougars loaded the bases again in the ninth but couldn't close the gap. 

Binnicker struck out five Martin Luther hitters in 5.1 innings, while Jacob Tobritzhofer threw the final 3.2 innings and struck out seven. Nelson, Schmitz, Jonas, and Meyerdirk all had two hits in the final game of the day.