MANKATO, Minn.—The Bethany Lutheran baseball team (6-8 overall, 2-1 UMAC) split Saturday's doubleheader with Minnesota Morris (10-8, 1-2) at ISG Field. BLC took the first game 11-9, and dropped the second 10-9. 
 
Morris began with a two-run first inning courtesy of four singles, but the Vikings answered back in the bottom of the frame with consecutive doubles by junior Matt Verdugo (Arvada, Colo.) and senior Ross Beumer (Northfield, Minn.) to even it at 2-2. 
 
BLC scored an additional run in the second and third innings before the Cougars took a 5-4 lead with a three-run fifth.
 
Bethany broke the game open in the bottom half of the fifth, as eight straight Vikings reached base to begin the frame. In all, seven runs were plated in the stanza, aided by three extra base hits to give BLC an 11-5 lead. 
 
In the ninth inning, Morris took advantage of three errors from Bethany to score three runs before a second out was recorded. With the bases loaded and the tying runner on second, senior Adam Fjerstad (Hayfield, Minn.) induced a weak comebacker to the mound and a strikeout to close out the game and pick up his first save of the season. 
 
Senior Brody Curtiss (Belle Plaine, Minn.) started and earned the win for the Vikings, which improved his record to 2-1. He pitched six innings and struckout four. 
 
Verdugo tied a program record with five hits and three doubles in the contest, as he also drove in two runs. 
 
Junior Liam Peterson (Port Orchard, Wash.) went 2-5 and had a team-high four RBI and two stolen bases. Classmate Vaughn Pouncy (Saint Paul, Minn.) and freshman Aidan Russell (Gilbert, Ariz.) picked up two hits apiece. 
 
In game two, the Vikings sent all nine hitters to the plate in the first inning and took an early 4-2 lead. 
 
Between the third and fifth innings, UMM plated eight to take control of the game, 10-5. 
 
BLC tacked on one in the sixth to make it a four-run game. It then scored three runs in the eighth aided by an RBI double from senior Jake Laberge (Round Rock, Tex.) and a two-RBI single from Russell, but the Vikings could not push across the game-tying run. 
 
Laberge went 2-5 with two RBIs. Beumer also recorded two hits, stole two bases and scored twice. Russell drove in three runs. 
 
Freshman Raimundo Heredias Jr. (Phoenix, Ariz.) pitched five scoreless innings in relief for the Vikings. He allowed three hits and struck out six. 
 
Bethany will finish the season series versus Morris on Sunday. First pitch is at 1 p.m.