Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Martin Luther College third baseman Hannah Ott dives to knock down a grounder during a UMAC softball game against North Central on Wednesday afternoon at MLC.

NEW ULM — Martin Luther College struggled to contain North Central’s offensive outburst on Wednesday at MLC, falling 13-4 in an Upper Midwest Athletic Conference softball game.

The Rams (4-28, 2-13) put together two four-run innings to help stay in control, pushing four runners across the plate in both the second and fifth innings.

Jess Horn took the loss in five innings for MLC (1-26, 1-14), allowing 14 hits and two walks for eight earned runs while striking out one.

Addison Schroer got the win in the circle for the Rams in five innings, allowing four hits and four walks for four earned runs while striking out seven.

Chloe Berg led the Knights at the plate, going 1 for 1 with two RBIs, two walks and two runs scored, while Horn, Chloe Koschnitzke and Katelyn Rassat each added a hit. Rassat also had an RBI and drew a walk, while Emma Frey had an RBI.

The Rams’ 14-hit attack was led by Schroer, who went 3 for 3 with an RBI, while Karmen Dotson was 2 for 3 with four RBIs and a double.

Dotson doubled in the first run of the game in the second inning and that was followed with an RBI groundout by Erma Ramirez, an RBI single from Kelsey Henninger and an RBI double to right field by Aurora Prettyman to make it 4-0.

Rassat singled to center to bring in Berg in the bottom of the inning to get the Knights on the board, but the Rams came back for another three runs in the third to lead 8-1. The inning saw the Rams collect six singles, one being a two-run single by Dotson.

A sac fly to right by Frey brought home Berg to make it 9-2 in the fourth, but the Rams got running again in the fifth, collecting three hits and capitalizing on two errors to go up 13-2.

The Knights got a little something going in the bottom of the inning when Kierah Schultz took a leadoff walk and Horn singled her to third before stealing second. Back-to-back outs followed, but Berg singled to right to score both Horn and Schultz and have MLC down 13-4. Schroer forced a groundout to end MLC’s day and win the season series two games to one.

MLC hosts Crown at 3:30 p.m. Friday, which starts a three-game UMAC series that will conclude with a home doubleheader Saturday afternoon.