Getting under the Florida sun might have been a pleasure in many ways for our Cougars, but the competition wasn't kind to them. The Cougars came up empty.
So when the squad was able to go 3-0 in a recent stretch against Crown College, it was most satisfying.
March came to a close with the UMM student athletes hosting Crown in the three games over two days. It was a romp for the Cougars.
First they took care of business with a 5-0 win on March 30. This was the UMAC conference opener. It had Jake Johnson in fine form on the pitching rubber.
Throwing his third complete game of the season, Jake scattered eight hits in recording his first shutout in a Cougar uniform.
Throwing his third complete game of the season, Jake scattered eight hits in recording his first shutout in a Cougar uniform.
It was a classy conference debut to be sure, and it had the six feet-four Johnson setting down 12 Crown batters on strikes - his career-best.
Eric Terres didn't exactly knock the cover off the ball in driving in UMM's first run, but his grounder to short pushed in a run. Mike McGill was perched at third for that grounder. He had been advanced there by a Jordan Gegen double.
Nick Perrotte's bat resounded with a well-timed single in the fifth, a single good for scoring Scott Peterson and Neil Arvold.
Johnson had his only rough inning in the sixth but bore down to fan a batter for out No. 3. He got three straight strikes to get that final out, a dramatic moment reviewed in a colorful way by the individual writing on UMM's website. Johnson left the batter "staring into the bright blue Morris sky."
Kudos to the writer. The people behind Morris' tourism push would appreciate such descriptions.
The UMM offense tacked on single runs in the sixth and eighth, thus we get the 5-0 final. Johnson fanned at least one batter in each of the last four innings.
The boxscore shows Perrotte and McGill each with two hits. For Perrotte it was his fifth multiple-hit game. His bat produced two RBIs.
The Cougars were out on our local ball diamond again on March 31, ready to hopefully notch more success vs. Crown. Eric Terres was primed for a memorable day. He had four hits in as many at-bats in this doubleheader. Plus he worked the Crown pitchers for two walks.
The Cougars won each game by a 7-1 score.
Terres crossed home plate four times and he drove in two runs. Just as notable was his savvy on the basepaths. He sprinted to steal five bases in as many tries. He upped his season stolen base total to 13, having been caught stealing just once. The freshman came out of the day wielding a team-best .371. His runs-scored total: 9.
UMM pitching shone. The starting nods went to Logan Orazem and Ted Gray. They allowed a mere one earned run on the day (two total). They fanned eight batters and walked four.
Each notched a complete game - a "first" for both as collegians.
Everyone in the boxscore had at least one hit. Mike McGill, Nick Perrotte and Chris Thompson joined Terres with multiple-hit games. Perrotte came out of this series at .341 which was third-best, and his hit total of 14 was team-best.
Kyle Glaser had three RBIs in the doubleheader.
Orazem pitched the first game and was untouched through four innings. He ended up allowing five hits. He nearly finished with a shutout but allowed Crown to sneak across a run in the seventh with two outs.
Gray's pitching arm was put to work in the second game. He survived a jam in the fifth and was bailed out partly by a Terres fielding gem. UMM preserved a 3-1 lead and eventually notched their second 7-1 win of the day. Terres worked in deft fashion to chase down a baserunner and tag him.
The Cougar bats achieved a four-run rally in the bottom of the fifth. Crown's fielding lapses helped. The rally was achieved on five hits and three errors.
Gray allowed but one hit over the last two innings.
The success over the two days helped negate any residual sting from the Florida setbacks.
April did not start out well for the Cougars. They dropped four games between 4/3 and 4/7, playing Presentation and St. Scholastica.
Fans can come to the home diamond on Tuesday, April 10, for an abundant day of baseball: two games, set to start at 2 and 4 p.m. The foe is Presentation.
The University of Minnesota-Morris home diamond is to the east of Big Cat Stadium.
The University of Minnesota-Morris home diamond is to the east of Big Cat Stadium.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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