SUPERIOR, Wis. – Take a look at the original schedule for the 2022 Yellowjacket baseball season, and you would have found that the UW-Superior home series against Minnesota Morris was scheduled to be played Apr. 15-16. There was a game Apr. 16, but the other two would have to wait for a while. Three weeks to be exact.
 
At the time the games were rescheduled for Sunday, May 8, nobody would have been able to see the future and know the magnitude of that doubleheader.
 
Two teams, two games. One team's season continued, and the other team's season was over.
 
All eyes in the UMAC were on Superior Sunday, as the Yellowjackets and Cougars battled to determine the fourth and final entrant into the UMAC Tournament. With the Yellowjackets having won the first meeting of the season between the two teams, they needed to win once to get in. Morris needed a sweep. It was that simple.
 
And of course, it had to come down to the very end to determine which team would advance.
 
Minnesota Morris, winners of 10 in a row coming into the game, drubbed the Yellowjackets 12-0 in the opener. Pitching, defense and timely hitting took over for the Yellowjackets in the second game, as they salvaged the split with an 8-2 win at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex.
 
The Yellowjackets (17-19, 13-8 UMAC) will now advance to the UMAC Tournament, next Thursday through Saturday at the University of Northwestern. It's the sixth consecutive year the Yellowjackets have advanced to the tournament.
 
Game One
It was all Cougars in the opener, as they got to Yellowjacket starter Riley Harbaugh (Banks, Ore./Banks) early, scoring four runs in the first inning and three in the second to put the game out of reach early. It would stay 7-0 until the sixth when Morris would blow it wide open with five runs to make the final score 12-0.

The Yellowjackets would muster just five hits in the game, with Jordan Trimble (Victorville, Calif./Grandview (Colo.)) leading the way, going 2-for-3 at the plate.
 
Harbaugh was responsible for all of the runs in the game over 5.1 innings. He walked four and struck out five. Christian Garcia (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs) pitched the final 1.1 innings.
 
Game Two
With Morris taking the opener, the stage was set for a winner-take-all second game, meaning, for all intents and purposes, the UMAC post-season started Sunday at 6:13 p.m. And early on, Morris picked up right where it left off, scoring a run in the top of the first inning.

This time, however, the Yellowjackets had an answer, jumping in front in the bottom of the inning.
 
Nick Fredrikson (Minneapolis, Minn./St. Anthony Village) started the inning with a walk and stayed there until moving to second on a two-out balk. He came around to score on a single to left by Isaac Fugere (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East), tying the game. Sam McNosky (Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle) came up next and singled to center, putting runners on the corners. Garcia followed with a shot just inside the third base bag that went for extra bases, but more importantly scored both runners to put the Yellowjackets up 3-1.
 
It stayed close, as Bryce Flanagan (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd Senior) for the Yellowjackets and Joey Reinarts of Morris settled into a groove on the mound.
 
In the fifth, the Cougars started getting their timing down and were putting better swings on Flanagan's pitches. They plated a second run before Yellowjacket skipper TJ Oakes made a change with two outs in the inning, bringing in ace lefthander Ryan Rodriguez (Chaska, Minn./Chaska), who retired his first hitter, stranding two runners on base and keeping the Yellowjackets in front.
 
Jonny Rhodes (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) led off the Yellowjacket half of the fifth with a walk and Fredrikson followed with a bunt single. Ben Rhodes (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) sacrificed both runners over and Payton Steiner (Baraboo, Wis./Baraboo) then singled up the middle to put the 'Jackets back in front by two, 4-2.
 
Next up was Fugere, and he gave the Yellowjackets the breathing room they needed, blasting a 2-1 pitch over the fence in left for a three-run homer – his fourth round-tripper of the weekend. When all was said and done, the Yellowjackets scored five times to take an 8-2 lead.

From there, it was all about Rodriguez. The senior entered the game on just one day of rest and dominated the Cougars. He set Morris down in order in both the sixth and seventh innings and allowed a harmless double in the eighth. The Morris leadoff man reached in the ninth, but he was quickly erased on a 6-4-3 double play.
 
Rodriguez threw a brilliant game Friday at Crown but was denied a win. On this night, he closed out Morris with 4.1 great innings to earn the victory, pushing his record to 6-4. He struck out five without issuing a walk while scattering two hits.
 
At the plate, Fugere went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and four batted in, while McNosky had two hits and two runs scored.
 
Next up for the Yellowjackets is a date with Northwestern, the top seed in the UMAC Tournament, Thursday, May 12. The opening pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Northwestern's Reynolds Field in St. Paul, Minn.