DULUTH, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team suffered a tough 16-15 defeat in 13 innings to start off a doubleheader with the University of Wisconsin-Superior on Sunday afternoon. The Yellowjackets built on that momentum with a 10-4 victory in the second game of the day to sweep the series from the Cougars (11-18, 6-8 UMAC).

Minnesota Morris returns to Chizek Field on Tuesday afternoon to finish off its series with Crown College. The Cougars will face the Polars in a single game beginning at 2 p.m. 

Game 1: UW-Superior 16, Minnesota Morris 15 (13 innings)
Minnesota Morris came up just short in a wild game in which the Cougars took a 1-0 lead, fell behind 3-1, took an 8-3 advantage, gave up 11 unanswered runs to fall behind by six, then scored seven of their own to take a 15-14 lead in the eighth. After all that, UW-Superior tied the game in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extras at 15-15 and then broke the deadlock with a walk-off hit in the bottom of the 13th to finish it.

The first lead of the game for Minnesota Morris came off a RBI double from Landen Meyerdirk in the top of the second. In the third inning, RBI singles from Keegan Jonas and Ty Beasley tied the score at 3-3 before Ashton Pauly put the Cougars on top with another RBI single. The inning was capped with a Ryan McGie RBI single that brought Pauly and Tyler Moriarty home for the 8-3 lead.

UW-Superior responded with two runs in the bottom of the third to pull within three before tying it with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. The Yellowjackets continued to pound the ball in the sixth and seventh, scoring six more times to go on top, 14-8.

The Minnesota Morris comeback came in the eighth and started with a bases-clearing double from McGie to bring the Cougars back to within 14-11. McGie would later score on a fielder's choice grounder from Beasley. With the bases loaded, Pauly drew a walk to force home a run and pull UMN Morris within a run. Moriarty followed that with a single down the third-base line which brought Beasley in to tie the game. A UW-Superior error with Schmitz at the plate opened the door for Fred Huebner to score from third and put the Cougars ahead, 15-14.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, UW-Superior's Tanner Voight rescued his team with a solo home run to send the game to extras tied at 15-15. 

Both teams had chances in the bonus baseball. Minnesota Morris loaded the bases in the 10th inning but couldn't score. UW-Superior had a runner on third with one out in the 11th but were unable to bring him him. Finally, in the bottom of the 13th, Voight connected on a single to right for the game-winning RBI to give the Yellowjackets the win.

Josh Osten got the start for the Cougars and threw 6.0 innings. Breckin Silvain was tagged with the loss despite going 6.1 innings and striking out eight. At the top of the Cougar batting order, Pauly, Moriarty, and Schmitz all had three hits, while McGie drove in five.

Game 2: UW-Superior 10, Minnesota Morris 4
UW-Superior scored the first eight runs of the contest, with another Voight home run in the putting an exclamation point on a dominant start to the game in the sixth inning.

Minnesota Morris made a late comeback attempt, but it was too little, too late for the Cougars. Huebner lofted a sacrifice fly to left in the top of the seventh and Meyerdirk was able to score from third. Later on, a Pauly single scored Jacob Tobritzhofer to make it 8-2.

The Yellowjackets answered back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh to make it a 10-2 ballgame. Down to their final three outs, the Cougars plated two in the ninth inning before UW-Superior ended the game. Huebner started the scoring with a bases-loaded walk that brought Trevor Haberman home. Pauly then added a sac fly that scored Meyerdirk for a 10-4 score line.