MANKATO, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team defeated the University of Northwestern 12-9 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament in its first game of the day. The Cougars then fell to the University of Wisconsin-Superior 24-6 to wrap up the season Friday in Mankato, Minn.
Game 1
Tyler Moriarty had the first hit of the contest with a single in the first inning, but the game remained scoreless after the opening frame.
In the second,
Peyton Neadeau and
Trevor Haberman had back-to-back two-out singles. The Cougars took the lead on an RBI single from
Blake Imhoff.
Tim Pietsch hit his first collegiate home run to extend the UMM lead to 4-0 after the top of the inning. The Eagles cut into the lead by scoring three runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Minnesota Morris had three straight singles to start the third inning, with
Kellan Oligmueller driving in a run. Haberman then drew a walk to load the bases. Imhoff had his second hit of the game, driving in two more runs with a single through the right side. Pietsch doubled to score two more runs, pushing the lead to 9-3.
Ben Meuser extended the lead in the fourth with a solo home run. UNW matched the scoring, making it 10-4 after four innings.
Imhoff had his third hit of the game to lead off the fifth inning. Pietsch laid down a bunt to advance Imhoff, but an error by the pitcher put runners on the corners with no outs.
Landen Meyerdirk singled to drive in Imhoff and push the lead to seven. Moriarty advanced both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt.
Bradie Black followed with a sacrifice fly, growing the UMM lead to 12-4.
The Eagles added a run in the sixth and another in the seventh to trail by six. In the eighth, UNW loaded the bases with one out. Northwestern pushed three more runs across the plate to pull within three. With the bases loaded,
Breckin Silvain struck out the batter for the final out of the inning. Silvain then pitched a one-two-three ninth inning to secure the win for the Cougars.
The win advanced the Cougars in the UMAC Tournament to face UW-Superior.
Minnesota Morris recorded 17 hits in the win. Meyerdirk and Imhoff led the team with three hits each, while Meuser, Neadeau, Haberman, and Pietsch all totaled two. Meuser hit his sixth home run of the season, while Pietsch had his first collegiate home run. Pietsch led the team with five RBIs, while Imhoff had a team-high three runs scored. Neadeau recorded the only stolen base of the contest.
Ryan McGie earned the win on the mound, pitching seven innings. The senior struck out three batters and gave up five earned runs. Silvain pitched the final two innings, striking out three batters while giving up three earned runs.
Game 2
Moriarty had the first hit of the game with a single to right field in the top of the first inning. With a full count and two outs, Moriarty took off as Meuser doubled to left-center field, allowing him to score. Oligmueller extended the inning with an RBI single to put UMM up 2-0 after the top of the inning. The Yellowjackets pulled within one, but Neadeau was able to get the final out via strikeout before more damage could be done.
UW-Superior took the lead in the bottom of the second, scoring three runs. Meyerdirk led off the third inning with a single and then advanced into scoring position on a passed ball. A double from Black brought UMM within one. The Yellowjackets took control in the third, scoring seven runs, and continued to extend their lead throughout the game.
In the sixth, the Cougars started to chip away at the lead. Meuser and Oligmueller had back-to-back singles, and the bases were loaded after Haberman was hit by a pitch. Imhoff scored Meuser on a fielder's choice. McGie entered as a pinch hitter and hit an RBI single, and Moran followed with an RBI single to bring in the third and final run of the inning. UWS would go on to win 24-6.
The Cougars totaled 11 hits, with Meuser, Oligmueller, and Moran leading the team with two apiece. Black and Meuser both doubled for the extra-base hits for UMM. Minnesota Morris had six athletes record one RBI each, while Meuser scored two runs.
Neadeau started on the mound and pitched 1.2 innings with two strikeouts and four earned runs allowed.
Zach Anderson also had a pair of strikeouts in the contest. Also pitching for UMM were
Travis Godfrey,
Parker Gilchrist,
Elias Harrington, and
Johnny Lopez.
