MORRIS, Minn. - The Martin Luther College baseball team split its doubleheader at Minnesota Morris on Tuesday, winning game one 16-15 before losing game two 11-6.

MLC 16, UMM 15

The Knights jumped out to a big lead early before hanging on in the final inning to top the Cougars 16-15 in game one.

The Knights sent 15 batters to the plate and scored 10 runs in the opening inning, and then added three more runs in the second to take a 13-0 lead. MLC finished with 10 hits in the opening frame, including seven straight hits at one point on the way to the big start. In the second inning, Matt Baehman, Caleb Christopher and Jared Lindemann each drove in one run apiece to push the lead to 13-0.

The Cougars started to come back in the third inning with a pair of runs, and then scored at least two runs in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings to cut the deficit to one going into their final at bat. With the tying runner at third base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Dillon Solomon struck out the final batter to earn his first save of the season.

Lindemann led the offensive charge with four of the Knights' 24 hits, and also added four runs batted in. Tyler Roecker, Jonas Lindemann, Christopher and Solomon each finished with three hits apiece. 

Andrew Mantz (1-4) earned his first win of the season after allowing nine runs on 14 hits in 6.1 innings. 

UMM 11, MLC 6

The Cougars reversed the game-one script with a big start on the way to earning a split with an 11-6 win in game two.

UMM scored twice in the opening inning and six times in the second to take an early 8-4 lead. The Knights scored once in the first and three more times in the second to keep within distance, but the Cougars added one run in the fourth inning and two more in the seventh to push their lead to 11-4.

MLC threatened in the ninth with a pair of runs on a Jonas Lindemann single, but the Cougars shut the door to secure the win.

Baehman (1-3) started the game for MLC and allowed all 11 runs on 14 hits in 6.1 innings. Roecker led the Knights at the plate with five hits and two runs scored. Joey Behm added three hits and scored one run.

MLC moved to 5-20 on the season and 4-4 in UMAC play with the split. UMM is now 4-18 overall and 2-8 in league play.

The Knights will return to action tomorrow (Wednesday, April 24) when they travel to Bethany Lutheran for a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.