MAUSTON, Wis. - The University of Minnesota Morris executed their first series sweep of the season with a dominant 16-3 victory over Northland College. With this win, the Cougars move to 6-3 in UMAC play. Cougar baseball will face off against Saint John's University Apr. 10 at 4:30 pm before jumping back into conference play in a series against Martin Luther College Apr. 11-12.
The dominant victory started for Minnesota Morris in the top of the first inning with a home run from Trevor Haberman that brought in Bradie Black to score and earned Haberman two RBIs. Ethan Schmitz scored the third run of the day shortly after. The bottom of the first ended quickly with a double play by the Cougar defense, and the scoring picked up again in the top of the second. Ashton Pauly, Black, and Tyler Motley scored in quick succession, pushing the lead to 6-0 in favor of Minnesota Morris. Haberman scored the final run of the inning after making his way around the bases. Northland managed to snag their first run of the day in the bottom of the second, though the Cougars still led 7-1. Schmitz earned his second run of the day in the top of the fourth, to which the Lumberjacks responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
A seven-run inning in the top of the fifth expanded the Cougar lead to 15-3, and secured the victory for the visiting team. Pauly and Black kicked things off with back-to-back runs, followed quickly by runs from Haberman, Schmitz, Landen Meyerdirk, and Jonas. Peyton Neadeau scored the final run of the inning for Minnesota Morris as a flyout ended the Cougars scoring run. Both teams went scoreless into the top of the seventh when Neadeau scored his second run of the game on an RBI from Black to expand the lead to 16-3 in favor of the Cougars.
Pauly and Black each went 3-5 at the plate for the Cougars, while Haberman and Meyerdirk earned three RBIs a piece for the offense. Schmitz earned the lone double of the day while Haberman hammered a home run into play. Stolen bases came from Pauly, Black, Moriarty, and Neadeau. Haberman reeled in nine putouts at first base for the Cougars. The Minnesota Morris pitching staff of Ryan McGie (W), Brady Kenning, and Cole Mammenga threw seven strikeouts, flyouts, and groundouts between the three of them.Â