Morris, Minn. – The Crown baseball team opened their conference season with a win on Tuesday, defeating Minnesota Morris on the road by a score of 6-5.  The Storm were playing in their first game up north, after going 0-8 on their spring break trip to Florida.

Crown got contributions from all over the lineup on Tuesday, with six players recording a hit and four different players notching RBI's in the nine inning win over the Cougars.  That group was led by David Cruz who continued his hot start to the season, going 2-4 with three RBI.

Josh Flanders was magnificent in relief, throwing 2.1 scoreless innings while allowing only one hit and striking out three, to earn the win.  Brandon Hudson started for Crown and struck out three over 6.2 innings while allowing three earned runs (five total) on six hits and two walks.

Catcher David Sherwood got things started in the fourth inning with an RBI double that scored Dalton Wintersole.  Cruz then collected his first RBI of the game, singling to bring home Sherwood before being thrown out at second attempting to advance on the throw home. 

The Storm added to their lead in the sixth when Wintersole reached on an infield single that scored Ryan Denison.  Cruz would get the big hit again, doubling to left and scoring Sherwood and Wintersole to push Crown's lead to 5-0.

Hudson, who cruised through six innings, got into trouble in the seventh, giving up five singles and a walk while mixing in two wild pitches.  The big right hander was also done in by a pair of errors in the inning, while two of the Morris hits were infield singles.

Flanders came on with two outs and runners on second and third with the score now tied at 5-5.  The junior came up with a huge strikeout, ending the threat and preserving the tie.

The Storm lineup answered right back in the top of the eighth when Denison singled through the right side and made a heads up base running play, advancing to second when the right fielder was unable to come up with the ball cleanly.  Harry Ballantyne followed that up with a single of his own, and two batters later, Matthew Tate brought Denison in with an RBI groundout to give Crown a 6-5 advantage.

Flanders cruised through the next two innings to seal the victory, striking out two batters and ending the game by snagging a liner hit right back at him.

Crown continues UMAC play with a three game series against Northland College in Cologne this coming Friday and Saturday.