MANKATO, Minn. - Bethany baseball powered past UM-Morris 15-5 in seven innings Thursday evening at ISG Field to open the UMAC tournament. The Vikings (29-6) earned their 12th run-rule victory of the season and matched a program record 29 wins in a season.
The Cougars took an early 1-0 lead in the first but the Vikings responded with three in the bottom half. Jayden Knutson singled and scored on a base hit by Xander Meissner. Yunior Pena then blasted his seventh home run of the season and fourth in the past three games.
Morris answered with a two-run shot of their own in the second to tie the game 3-3, but Bethany gained the lead for good in the bottom half as Josh Miller singled and scored on a base hit by Max Athmann.
The home squad took a 7-3 advantage in the third after an RBI single by Parker Anderson, RBI groundout by Kyle Carlberg, and another RBI single by Miller.
The Cougars plated two runs in the fourth, ending Aidan Byrd's day on the mound. Byrd improved to 8-0, allowing five runs on eight hits with five strikeouts.
Bethany created more separation in the fourth with five runs. Vincent Curzie hit a sac fly to score a run, Swann, Carlberg, and Knutson each hit RBI singles, and Anderson drove in a run with a double.
The run rule was enforced in the seventh after Meissner hit a two-run single and Swann hit the walk-off single to score Athmann.
Drew Hedtke earned his first save of the season after tossing three scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit with five strikeouts.
Meissner (4-5, 2 R, 3 RBI) and Swann (4-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B) led at the plate as the Vikings collectively posted 20 hits for the third time this season.
Bethany will face UW-Superior at 3 p.m. Friday with a trip to the championship game on the line.
