MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team kicked off their season with a double header against Macalester College. The Cougars fell 4-5 in the first game of the series, but rallied to take game two 6-5.

Macalester 5, Minnesota Morris 4

Minnesota Morris got on the board early in game one with a double from Ben Meuser that brought David Steffen in to score at the top of the first. The Cougars scored again twice in the top of the second. The first run of the inning came from Tyler Motley off a Landon Meyerdirk double. Bradie Black scored on the next at-bat thanks to a Steffen RBI. Minnesota Morris retired shortly after, leading 3-0 for the remainder of the second and the third inning. Meyerdirk earned an RBI as he brought in Motley in the top of the fourth to push the Cougars lead to 4-0. Things got rolling for the Scots in the bottom fourth as they picked up three runs in quick succession. Both teams went scoreless for the next inning and a half, before Macalester took the lead with two runs in the top of the sixth. Unable to respond, the Cougar left two on base in the top of the seventh to fall 4-5.

Motley led the Minnesota Morris offense with two runs and one hit, closely followed by Steffen who recorded one run and two hits. Black also scored one run for the Cougars on the day. Meuser earned six putouts at first base, while Keegan Jonas picked up five from behind the plate. 

Minnesota Morris 6, Macalester 5

The Scots took an early lead in game two, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. Minnesota Morris responded with a run of their own when Steffen crossed home plate on a Black RBI. After a quick second inning, Macalester put up three more runs in the top of the third to take a commanding 5-1 lead. Black picked up his second RBI of the game in the bottom of the third with a sacrifice fly to bring Meyerdirk home, and followed that up with another RBI in the bottom of the fifth to bring Aidan Moran in to score. Still down 3-5, the Cougars worked the plate but were unable to score in the sixth. The bottom of the seventh inning was where Minnesota Morris secured their victory. Steffen and Meyerdirk both crossed home plate on RBIs from Meuser to tie up the game at 5-5. Black was the final Cougar to score, putting Minnesota Morris up one on an Ethan Schmitz RBI.

Steffen and Meyerdirk finished the game with two runs and one hit each while Black had one run, two hits and a team-high of three RBIs. Meuser led the Cougar defense with six putouts in the game, and picked up two RBIs. Moran earned three putouts of his own and scored one run for Minnesota Morris. 

Cougar baseball continues their games at U.S. Bank with a double-header against Augsburg University. Game one is set to start at 12:15 pm with game two to follow after.